Answer to Question 1
There is a tendency for health care providers to enforce their beliefs, practices, and values upon clients, sometimes unknowingly because they are unaware of cultural differences, but more often because they believe their ideas are superior. This process is called cultural imposition, and it impacts nearly all client care. If the new immigrant is from a culture that values unconventional, alternative, or folk medical care, the immigrant may be met with resistance unless his or her health care provider is open to and willing to operate in partnership with unconventional health care practitioners.
Answer to Question 2
Southeast Asians may appear indifferent to a terminally ill family member and have little interest in prolonging life because of a faith in reincarnation. Some African Americans distrust white American health care recommendations regarding do-not-resuscitate orders in part because they contradict the critical role of faith in African American healing. An Orthodox Jewish patient may believe that physicians are mandated to preserve life and that any person who assists death through denial of sustaining care is a murderer; a non-Orthodox Jew may believe that no one should endure uncontrollable pain and thus dying should not be prolonged. Middle Easterners traditionally demand that everything be done to keep a person alive because death is in God's hands, and one must never give up hope. Mexican American family members might view death as part of God's plan for a relative; they might be against anything that would quicken death, or they may expect the practitioner to make the decision.
Ethnic Variations in Prenatal Care within the United States
Patients of all socioeconomic backgrounds should be given equal care.
Standard Medical Record and Types of Reports Found in Record
Variations Affecting Health Care Among Different Cultures
Cultural Diversity
Genes, hormones, and activity affect weight