The overall goal of Leininger’s nursing theory is to provide culturally competent nursing care for all patients with respect to their diverse cultural beliefs and to understand the view of illness from the patient’s perspective. For example, the Asian culture has a belief in yin and yang, which believes in three tenets of duality, involving opposites for the importance of holistic balance (Fang, 2011). Hispanics also have a similar belief in hot and cold theory, where the view of illness is as an imbalance between hot and cold within a person (Koinis-Mitchell et al., 2008). Recognizing the importance of these cultural views and working with patients to not only relieve perceived cultural imbalance, but to also educate on appropriate health
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Over the last few decades, it was easier to identify people of different cultures, but with the advancement of technology available for travel and communication, such as air travel, the internet, FaceTime, Facebook, etc., culture is less easily distinguished and often under-recognized. It is often easy to recognize that a woman who wears a hijab is a practicing Muslim or a man wearing a kippah is a practicing Jew; however, it is often difficult to recognize understated geographical cultural difference of those from Appalachia. As mentioned previously, Appalachians are historically known to be wary of outsiders but as one who “take care of their own,” they are proud, hard working, and often focused on the importance of family and religion (Coyne et. al., 2006). When an Appalachian patient is hospitalized, whether for illness or the birth of a child, it is not uncommon for the entire extended family and friends to flock to the hospital with gifts, food, flowers, etc. To outsiders, this may seem absurd or unnecessary, however to Appalachians, this is the perfect description of taking care of one another. Appalachians are often fond of folk medicine rather than trusting the opinion of the large number of health care providers who are not native to the Appalachian region, which ultimately leads to a delay in seeking health …show more content…
Key words were chosen to allow a full review on the Appalachian culture as well as assist in identifying any gaps in evidence or information, with attention paid to the provider and patient relationship. Key words included “Appalachian,” “culture,” “health,” “communication,” and “obesity.” Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were clearly defined prior to conducting a search for literature. Inclusion criteria included studies that focused on the health and culture in the Appalachian geographic region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Additional inclusion criteria included studies related to the patient-provider relationship in Appalachia, health disparities in Appalachia, barriers to access of health care in Appalachia, and communication in Appalachia. The articles included were published in a peer-reviewed journal within the last five years (2011-2016) with full text articles available. Exclusion criteria included any articles that did not specifically address the needs of Appalachians with respect to health care, barriers to health care access, or Appalachian culture, as well as those not published in a peer-reviewed
Over the last few decades, it was easier to identify people of different cultures, but with the advancement of technology available for travel and communication, such as air travel, the internet, FaceTime, Facebook, etc., culture is less easily distinguished and often under-recognized. It is often easy to recognize that a woman who wears a hijab is a practicing Muslim or a man wearing a kippah is a practicing Jew; however, it is often difficult to recognize understated geographical cultural difference of those from Appalachia. As mentioned previously, Appalachians are historically known to be wary of outsiders but as one who “take care of their own,” they are proud, hard working, and often focused on the importance of family and religion (Coyne et. al., 2006). When an Appalachian patient is hospitalized, whether for illness or the birth of a child, it is not uncommon for the entire extended family and friends to flock to the hospital with gifts, food, flowers, etc. To outsiders, this may seem absurd or unnecessary, however to Appalachians, this is the perfect description of taking care of one another. Appalachians are often fond of folk medicine rather than trusting the opinion of the large number of health care providers who are not native to the Appalachian region, which ultimately leads to a delay in seeking health …show more content…
Key words were chosen to allow a full review on the Appalachian culture as well as assist in identifying any gaps in evidence or information, with attention paid to the provider and patient relationship. Key words included “Appalachian,” “culture,” “health,” “communication,” and “obesity.” Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were clearly defined prior to conducting a search for literature. Inclusion criteria included studies that focused on the health and culture in the Appalachian geographic region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Additional inclusion criteria included studies related to the patient-provider relationship in Appalachia, health disparities in Appalachia, barriers to access of health care in Appalachia, and communication in Appalachia. The articles included were published in a peer-reviewed journal within the last five years (2011-2016) with full text articles available. Exclusion criteria included any articles that did not specifically address the needs of Appalachians with respect to health care, barriers to health care access, or Appalachian culture, as well as those not published in a peer-reviewed