Cultural assignment

[sabita143]

Hello All,

I am working on getting my BSN and i have to do a cultural paper. I would really appreciate it if someone can just answer a few questions about your culture. I will post the questions but i can also email it to you. By the way, I am from Guyana and i am West Indian. Thank you.

1- Five male roles in your cultural group?

2- Five female roles in your cultural group?

3- Describe communication patterns and language?

4- Describe beliefs about personal space and touch?

5- Describe cultural beliefs about the cause of disease?

6- Describe cultural time orientation.

7- Explains who makes health related decisions in a family

8- Describes food prohibited and promoted diseases in your culture

9- Describe some of the folk healing methods in your culture

[Duttygal86, BSN, RN]

I live in the Caribbean (From the states originally) so maybe I can help you a little with the whole culture thing (I am not going into womens/mens roles because I can not be objective - my view of gender roles in the Caribbean is not positive IMO) However I will tackle questions #4 & #5

4- Describe beliefs about personal space and touch?

Do to limited land space and higher density cities throughout the Caribbean, the concept of personal space is significantly different from the United States; and varies slightly between islands ( I have noticed people from Hispaniola (both Haiti and the DR) require significantly less personal space and will often come sit right next to you when there are several empty seats.

5- Describe cultural beliefs about the cause of disease?

There are strong beliefs that mental illness is brought on by evil spirits or by individuals having 'roots' put on them. Mental illness carries a very large stigma in the Caribbean and often goes ignored and untreated. Sexual education for youth is almost non-exsistant due to a strong cultural aversion to publically speaking about sex. This correlates to an extremely high STD and teen pregnancy rate. Women who are not able to get pregnant are often looked down upon, and often seek infertility treatments in secret due to the stigma.

OK, that's all I can contribute. I am learning a lot about Caribbean Culture r/t healthcare and some of it is quite unnerving, especially in 2014.

[SeattleJess]

Ok...that was fun however I think the OP is in New York obtaining her degree.l...lets try to be helpful

OP...I would approach this from YOUR culture. How does life in the West Indies differ from the US? YOU are actually the best resource for this!How does YOUR culture view these questions?

Ok...that was fun however I think the OP is in New York obtaining her degree.l...lets try to be helpful

OP...I would approach this from YOUR culture. How does life in the West Indies differ from the US? YOU are actually the best resource for this!How does YOUR culture view these questions?

This is a most excellent piece of advice!

The questions you listed sound like a topic summary of the final paper I had to write for my "Intercultural Communications" class. You've got some work ahead of you; why not give yourself the advantage of your bi- (or more) culturalism!

[SeattleJess]

I live in the Caribbean (From the states originally) so maybe I can help you a little with the whole culture thing (I am not going into womens/mens roles because I can not be objective - my view of gender roles in the Caribbean is not positive IMO) However I will tackle questions #4 & #5

4- Describe beliefs about personal space and touch?

Do to limited land space and higher density cities throughout the Caribbean, the concept of personal space is significantly different from the United States; and varies slightly between islands ( I have noticed people from Hispaniola (both Haiti and the DR) require significantly less personal space and will often come sit right next to you when there are several empty seats.

5- Describe cultural beliefs about the cause of disease?

There are strong beliefs that mental illness is brought on by evil spirits or by individuals having 'roots' put on them. Mental illness carries a very large stigma in the Caribbean and often goes ignored and untreated. Sexual education for youth is almost non-exsistant due to a strong cultural aversion to publically speaking about sex. This correlates to an extremely high STD and teen pregnancy rate. Women who are not able to get pregnant are often looked down upon, and often seek infertility treatments in secret due to the stigma.

OK, that's all I can contribute. I am learning a lot about Caribbean Culture r/t healthcare and some of it is quite unnerving, especially in 2014.

That's a big contribution and very interesting. Thanks for expanding my horizons!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Thanks Duttygal86, that was actually very interesting. I am too much a product of middle America to probably be of much help, but even though it's not my assignment [no more school for me thank goodness] I would be interested to hear from more nurses that have worked outside their native culture. How much did you need to adjust your nursing practice to be successful in a different cultural environment?

To OP: this could be a very interesting as well as educational paper for you. I really don't know how helpful answers here will be, but maybe you will get some good ideas to start with. Good luck!

[Duttygal86, BSN, RN]

@kbrn2002. I am actually a student (BSN) I came down here to go to school because there is no waiting list, and its fully accredited(U.S.). We have been having some interesting conversations in nursing class so I thought I could share some of that with the OP. I do know that the nurses here who are originally from the states often struggle with the differences in patient care, supplies, cultural beliefs ect.