NURS 6710: Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice | Week 8

The social policy statement of nursing reminds us of our professional duty to serve society:

Nursing’s social contract reflects the profession’s long-standing core values and ethics, which provide grounding for health care in society. It is easy to overlook this social contract underlying the nursing profession when faced with certain facets of contemporary society, including depersonalization, apathy, disconnectedness, and growing globalization. But upon closer examination, we see that society validates the existence of the profession through licensure, public affirmation, and legal and legislative parameters. Nursing’s response is to provide care to all who are in need, regardless of their cultural, social, or economic standing. (American Nurses Association, 2010, p. 10)

Values inherent in this social contract include the recognition that 1) human experience is contextually and culturally defined; and 2) the relationship between the nurse and patient occurs within the context of the values and beliefs of the patient and nurse.

Cultural awareness and competence are contributing factors to achieving positive health outcomes for the populations you serve. Culture deeply influences perspectives on health and illness and a lack of awareness in this area could lead to unintended outcomes. Educating nursing professionals about culturally appropriate services is in fact an important step toward elimination of racial and ethnic health and health care disparities. In the most recent edition of Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (American Nurses Association, 2015), a new standard is set forth which calls for culturally congruent practice, which is defined as “the application of evidence-based nursing that is in agreement with the preferred cultural values, beliefs, worldview, and practices of the health care consumer and other stakeholders. Cultural competence represents the process by which nurses demonstrate culturally congruent practice. Nurses design and direct culturally congruent practice and services for diverse consumers to improve access, promote positive outcomes, and reduce disparities” (p. 31).

This week, you will examine cultural competence and its influence on health care delivery, as well as your own experiences as a unique cultural being. In addition, you’ll explore strategies for addressing the needs of specific populations through enhanced cross-cultural understanding and more effective cross-cultural communication.

Learning Objectives (NURS 6710: Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice | Week 8)

Students will:

• Evaluate personal traits influencing cross cultural encounters
• Analyze strategies to support culturally competent health care practice
• Analyze diverse populations
• Analyze community resources available for providing public health services to a specific population
• Analyze strategies for providing care to diverse populations

Discussion: Diversity Eye-Opener

An important first step toward cultural competence is an awareness of one’s own culturally-informed beliefs, values, attitudes, and potential biases. Recognizing the potential limitations in one’s cultural knowledge and being open to new ideas, contradictory information and advice illustrates an important concept referred to as “cultural humility.” When you understand how culture shapes your own beliefs, you become more open to understanding that someone of another culture may have a different perspective on a specific health issue and different strategies for achieving health. As a core competency of effective public health nursing, this Discussion assists in exploring your own cultural perceptions.

To Prepare:

• Complete the Diversity Eye-Opener Self-Assessment.
• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Reflect on the intersections of health and culture.

By Day 3

Post an explanation of the traits you believe you possess that enable you to effectively facilitate cross-cultural communication. Then, explain what traits you possess that might make it challenging for you to be effective in cross-cultural encounters with diverse others .

Lastly, summarize at least two strategies for effective, culturally competent health care practice.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues by offering at least one strategy your colleague could use to mitigate the traits that would make it challenging for them to effectively communicate in cross-cultural encounters.

Assignment: Reflection Paper

“Culturally aware nurses are conscious of culture as an influencing factor on differences between themselves and others and are receptive to learning about the cultural dimensions of clients.” (Stanhope & Lancaster, p. 147). For this Assignment, you will analyze effective ways to work with culturally diverse populations in your practice settings.

To Prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Reflect on this week’s media.
• Think about some of the diverse populations that you might encounter in your nursing practice.

The Assignment:

Write a 1- to 2-page paper that includes the following:

• Identify and describe a diverse population that you might encounter in your nursing practice.
• Identify and describe potential community resources that might be available in helping provide public health services to this population.
• Explain at least two strategies you might use in providing culturally competent care to the population you selected.

By Day 7

Submit your Assignment. NURS 6710: Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice | Week 8