Russian Culture Vs Native American Culture

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Today’s nurses are constantly being challenged by an increasingly globally connected society. Culturally competent care is an expectation of health care providers today and is becoming the normal instead of the unusual. Finding and utilizing tools such as the “Heritage Assessment” questionnaire (Spectre, 2000) can help providers to evaluate the needs of patients and families, and apply cultural understanding and sensitivity to values surrounding health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration. This paper will evaluate the previous three principles of health through three separate cultures-the Russian culture, the Native American culture, and the culture of the American.
Applying the questionnaire to a patient and their family
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Whether an individual has a chronic illness or enjoys good health, the maintenance of health is crucial to quality of life. In the Russian culture, good health is linked to the idea of being pain free (Stratis Health, 2018). Russian people also believe that to maintain a state of good health, they need to dress warmly, avoid stress, and have regular bowel movements (Health Care Chaplaincy, 2013). Native Americans believe that good health is the lack of disease, but also harmony with self (this includes spirit, mind, and body), harmony with the environment, and harmony with other people (Duran, 2002). In comparison, Americans believe that good health is maintained with diet, exercise, and maintaining a stress free environment. Examining these three cultural beliefs toward health maintenance reveals that even though they might have slight differences, they also have a common theme. The Russian culture and American culture both emphasize freedom from stress, while the Native American culture recognizes this as …show more content…
Within the Russian culture, spirituality is intertwined with protection of health. There is the belief that illness is the will of God-either as a punishment or a testing of faith (Health Care Chaplaincy, 2013). Prayers, combined with folk healing, are intended to ward off illness. They also believe that eating garlic will protect them from illness (Traditional perceptions of health and wellness, n.d.). Keeping preventive health in perspective, many Russians are not familiar with this concept. These programs simply were not available to them in Russia. Native Americans traditionally encourage positive behaviors and teach the consequences of failing to follow the laws of nature for protection of health (Koithan & Farrell, 2010). These stories and traditions are variably combined with herbs, ceremonies, prayer, and manipulative therapies for prevention of illness. Native Americans have also been distrusting of the health care system for good reason-forced sterilization was being imposed on the tribal nations as late as the 1970s (Simonds, Goins, Krantz, & Garroute, 2014). Americans typically believe that protection of one’s health involves annual physician visits for physicals and immunizations. This is in stark contrast to the beliefs of Russians and Native