: Transcultural Perspectives in the Nursing Care of Adults
Question 1
Each culture has its own beliefs and traditions, which define each culture to be unique and influence the perception in adult development. In other words, it is culture that defines social age, or what is considered an appropriate behavior in each stage of the life cycle(Andrews, 2016). Therefore, both physiological and psychosocial development have demonstrated to be highly influenced by cultural values during lifetime process. For example, during a physiological change such as when women undergo menopause, the coping mechanism utilized is primarily based on the cultural background.
In addition, sociocultural factors that are known to have influenced in the western society such as changes in career, marriage, and even society itself. In fact, the middle adulthood stage is known to be the most challenging for most western cultures. This phase is the most difficult because it is frequently perceived as the long stage from childhood and older adulthood. Thus, adult development requires adaptation to changes, preparedness for later years, and an acceptance of foreseen mortality.
Question 2
Woman from a traditional culture such as those in the middle east experience adulthood differently. Woman from the middle east face many challenges during the transition of adulthood. For instance, most woman have been sexually abused, low probabilities of obtaining a job and political power. Women constantly are struggling to fight for rights and earn independence. As a result, women’s representation in national parliaments rose to an average of about 17.5% in 2017 from 4.3% in 1995; the global average is 23.4% (Alexander, 2019). Therefore, cultural influences the transition of adulthood because many women from middle east are aware of the challenges they must face by adulthood because how their gender is perceived in their culture. In addition, women are to stay with their family’s home until they marry. In other words, they are not allowed to leave their homes and be independent unless they marry.
Question 3
Gender influences adult development differently in each culture. In a white middle-class family both genders are perceived equally unlike middle eastern. Culture influences how men or women manage to handle their personal relations between genders. For example, in American culture women are commonly seen with other women closely bonding their friendship. Socialization between same sex is perceived as a norm in American society. As a result, a white middle-class family raise their children to develop as independent adults and go off to college. American family’s treat their children of both gender the same and prepare them to be as independent as possible by the age of eighteen.
Question 4
In a health/ illness transitional event it is best to be well-managed by the provision of culturally related health promotion and risk reduction approach. An illness may impact an individual at first. So, it is important for the nurse to initially provide nursing interventions that are health promoting. For example, a patient diagnosed with HIV/AIDS will need family support and family counseling guidance. In 2018, blacks/ African Americans accounted for 13% of the US population but 42% of the 37,832 new HIV diagnoses in the United States and dependent areas (CDC, 2020). In addition, according to results revealed there are more men newly diagnosed than women. Therefore, supporting the fact that gender does influence in this illness.
In African Americans it is well-known their great interest in integrating in church-based health interventions. Religious beliefs and practices allow them to cope with the stress of caregiving. In addition, this population is extremely family oriented and spiritual. Spirituality is perceived as empowerment, which bonds them closely to god. However, a discussion on HIV/AIDS may rejected among African Americans population because they may feel that it is inappropriate to discuss this topic. Therefore, contributing a huge challenge for most African American women to further discuss safe sex, past sexual history, and drug use with their new partners. In addition, research reveals that many African American men and women do not seek early testing. Thus, leading to unawareness of the diagnosis and possibly further spreading of the illness to others.
Additionally, another illness situational crisis may be type 2 diabetes. Newly diagnosed patient with type 2 diagnosis require extensive family support, life-style changes, and nutritional guidance. These individuals are insulin dependent and the nurse must educate and teach the patient injection sites, dosage, and medication administration scheduling skills. The nurse must learn these skills and adjust to the new lifestyle changes to maintain a healthy quality of life. Otherwise, an uncontrolled type 2 diabetic can lead to serious health complications such as heart disease, vision problems, kidney disease, neuropathy, and lower extremity amputation. Therefore, a nurse should anticipate the patient with these outcomes if treatment is not followed. It is common for Hispanic population to not follow treatment and be in denial. Support groups, family support, and educational resources are important health promoting nursing interventions.