Cultural Diversity and Cultural Competency: New Issues in Elderly Care and Service
Iheneche, Ernest Uchenna (2010)
Iheneche, Ernest Uchenna
Arcada - Nylands svenska yrkeshögskola
2010
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201001261596
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201001261596
Tiivistelmä
ABSTRACT
The aging world society has to deal with a classical yet not only European problem: the increasing number of elderly people requiring daily care. Currently, the global trend of ageing is yielding only a small scale of culturally diverse care recipients. What has not been foreseen however, is how this cultural diversity will affect the care provided to older people in care nursing homes. The aim of this work is to show how healthcare professionals can use cultural competence to mitigate disparities that occur in nursing homes. Cultural competence means demonstrating knowledge and understanding of client’s culture, health-related needs. The research questions are how does cultural diversity affect the provision of care? How does culturally defined health belief impact the delivery of care and how does culturally competent care affect adherence to treatment, care provision or the satisfaction of the client? The idea of this thesis was conceived while working in elderly homes. This thesis work is based on literature review with content analysis with the author interpreting the content of the articles. The research articles were found through the academic search elite EBSCO-host, and PUBMED. The results show that when healthcare professionals and clients come from different cultural background misunderstanding may occur but applying cultural competency in health care practice is very essential to mitigate disparities among cultures.
The aging world society has to deal with a classical yet not only European problem: the increasing number of elderly people requiring daily care. Currently, the global trend of ageing is yielding only a small scale of culturally diverse care recipients. What has not been foreseen however, is how this cultural diversity will affect the care provided to older people in care nursing homes. The aim of this work is to show how healthcare professionals can use cultural competence to mitigate disparities that occur in nursing homes. Cultural competence means demonstrating knowledge and understanding of client’s culture, health-related needs. The research questions are how does cultural diversity affect the provision of care? How does culturally defined health belief impact the delivery of care and how does culturally competent care affect adherence to treatment, care provision or the satisfaction of the client? The idea of this thesis was conceived while working in elderly homes. This thesis work is based on literature review with content analysis with the author interpreting the content of the articles. The research articles were found through the academic search elite EBSCO-host, and PUBMED. The results show that when healthcare professionals and clients come from different cultural background misunderstanding may occur but applying cultural competency in health care practice is very essential to mitigate disparities among cultures.