1. Cultural baggage refers to the values and concepts that we have because of our own culture, but we do not realize that they are culturally based.Ethnocentrism is the belief that there is a standard or norm, usually represented by our own values and culture, against which other cultures and their practices and values should be assessed. I have seen nurses roll their eyes when a patient asks for cultural accommodation.
Cultural imposition describes practices or behaviors that are intrusive and incongruent with a patient’s values. Vegetarian patients who are given a meal with meat are often told that if they do not eat it, they will just go hungry.
Prejudice refers to negative feelings because someone has a certain demographic characteristic. Microaggression against persons of a certain culture is a common practice.
Discrimination refers to the assumptions made of another person based on their demographic characteristics. A slurring man of Native heritage was nearly misdiagnosed as being intoxicated, when he was presenting symptoms of a recent stroke.
Cultural congruence refers to an idea which is in a framework that makes it acceptable, or aligns with cultural values. Cultural congruence requires modifications that accommodate the patient’s beliefs rather than just knowing about them (Andrews & Boyle, 2015).
2. Without cultural self-assessment, we are defining and judging others without realizing our own place within it. Culture is relative and subjective, and we view the cultures of others by comparing them to our own (Cupelli, 2016). If we think that we ourselves are not part of a culture, or if we fail to see that we are making comparisons to our own cultures, then we are making the ethnocentric error. This is not the case- in fact our culture can be viewed in the same way that we view the exotic cultures of others.
3. The five steps in the process for delivering culturally competent nursing care are cultural awareness, gaining cultural knowledge, developing cultural skills, having cultural encounters, and a desire for cultural experiences (Andrews & Boyle, 2015).
- Andrews, M.M., & Boyle, J.S. (2015). Transcultural concepts in nursing care (7 ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. DOI: 10.1016/j.teln.2016.01.004
- Cupelli, L. (2016). An innovative service-learning project to develop cultural competency in undergraduate nursing students. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 11(3), 113-117.
