HEALTH and ILLNESS
Panoramas
Thus far, this book has discussed 4 of the 6 steps to CULTURALCOMPETENCY. The first 7 chapters presented the underlying theoretical rationale that is the foundation for CULTURALCOMPETENCY and brought you to the transparent door depicted in the introduction, to “observe” the various “bricks” philos- ophies, concepts, and situations involved in the theoretical development of CULTURALCOMPETENCY.
■ Chapter 1 presented the theoretical foundation and rationale for the de- velopment of “CULTURALCOMPETENCY.”
■ Chapter 2 set the theoretical foundation of what was the first step, know your personal heritage, as it reviewed the sociological components of heritage.
■ Chapter 3 developed the background necessary to understand the role that the changing demographics of the larger communities have had in society in general and specifically in the delivery of health care—this is the second step.
■ Chapters 4, 5, and 6 explored the dynamics involved in health/HEALTH, illness/ILLNESS, and curing/HEALING—the third step.
■ Chapter 7 provided the opportunity to look intensely inside this door from your personal experience and presented information regarding the exciting and challenging intricacies of exploring your heritage and
III Unit
208 ■ Unit III
your family’s health/HEALTH and illness/ILLNESS beliefs and practices. As stated, this completes the first and most important step in becoming CULTURALLY COMPETENT.
■ Chapter 8 examined the “culture” of health care providers and that of the health care delivery system and introduced arguments relevant to the trends in the development of the health care system, common problems in the delivery of health care, pathways to health services, and medicine as an institution of social control and compared modern and traditional philosophies of health care delivery.
The first 5 chapters in this unit embrace the fifth step—traditional HEALTH care—and will provide a framework for learning about the communi- ties you may be practicing in. It presents examples of the traditional HEALTH, ILLNESS, and HEALING beliefs and practices of selected populations. Each chapter introduces the
■ background of the population, ■ traditional definitions of HEALTH/ILLNESS/HEALING, ■ traditional methods of HEALTH maintenance and protection, ■ traditional methods of HEALTH restoration, ■ current health problems, and ■ health disparities in morbidity and mortality rates and manpower.
These are areas that can be applied in researching information regarding the populations you are caring for and working with. The World Wide Web is extremely helpful in gathering the demographic and modern health-related data applicable to a given population. Chapter 14 illustrates the journey on the Road to CULTURALCOMPETENCY and how this knowledge is vital to a person’s development in this discipline.