Effect Of Cultural Values On Mergers Around World
Answer:
Introduction
Culture is often considered as a crucial component of our lives owing to its role in influencing our beliefs, our values, hopes, humour, fears, loyalties, and worries. Hence, while interacting and working with clients, it is imperative for nursing professionals to foster building of a relationship with them, in addition to gaining a deeper understanding of their perspectives and culture (Boer & Fischer, 2013). As human beings, all of us have our own attitudes, beliefs and values that have developed in us throughout the entire course of our lifetime. Furthermore, our friends, family and community, and our life experiences play an important role in contributing to our personal sense of how we perceive ourselves, with respect to the entire world. Besides, while working as community workers, certain instances are often encountered, which encompass close association and collaboration with people who are vulnerable and might have a lifestyle that is not accepted or regarded different by the mainstream society. Cultural values are often identified by conducting an assessment of the level of respect and honour that is received by different ideas and groups. Thus, culture is commonly referred to as a group of supervisory values and outwards symbols and signs that are taken together as a unified concept. Additionally, cultural values also comprise of our ideas of what is fair, good, just, and right (Ahern, Daminelli & Fracassi, 2015).
This is often elaborated by the conflict theory that illustrates on the differences between values of different groups, existing within a particular culture. On the other hand, the concept of functionalism focuses on the shared values that are present in a culture (De Nardis, 2013). In other words, values can be defined as a set of principles, qualities and standards that are held in high regard by an individual or group of individuals. These values are found to govern or influence the way by which our lives are lead, in addition to governing the decisions that are made. Hence, cultural values have been found to exist in relation to personal values. This report will comprise of a literature review that will elucidate the different theories and ideas in relation to culture.
Discussion
Search strategy
The search strategy aimed to find published studies that answer the following questions:
- What is the role of culture in relation to personal life?
- What is the role of culture in relation to nursing profession?
- How does culture govern the community work practice?
Taking into account the search terms for the present study, a range of key phrases and research terms were identified. The main key words sued for extracting relevant articles were ‘culture’, ‘values’, ‘personal’, ‘community’, ‘professional’, ‘nursing’, ‘healthcare’, ‘life’, ‘transcultural’, ‘beliefs’, ‘nurse-patient’, ‘relationship’, and ‘communication’. With the aim of searching research articles that are related to role of culture in the personal, professional, and community life, two databases namely, CINAHL, and PubMed (International articles in nursing and medicine) were utilised. CINAHL is one of the most cumulative catalogue of allied health and nursing related literature.
The words culture, transcultural, beliefs, and values were shortened as valu*, cultur*, transcultur*, belie*. Boolean operators AND, and OR were used for combining the search terms during feeding them in the selected databases. Use of ‘AND’ helped in narrowing down the search results, while ‘OR’ broadened the results by retrieving articles that contained either of the key phrases such as, ‘values’ OR ‘beliefs’ (McGowan et al., 2016). English language articles that were published on or after 2010 were considered for addition in the literature review. The articles were initially appraised for their relevance by studying the titles, followed by an evaluation of the abstracts. Following the absence of any abstract, the full text of the articles were read to determine their relevance to the research questions. The inclusion and exclusion criteria are given below:
Inclusion criteria |
Exclusion criteria |
Related to culture and its role on personal values and beliefs |
Articles not defining influence of culture on personal values |
Focuses on the role of culture in nursing profession and the life of a community worker |
Not illustrating how culture shapes the nursing profession |
Free, full-text availability |
Unpublished manuscripts |
Published in English |
Published in foreign languages |
Published between January 2010-August 2018 |
Published prior to 2010 |
Table 1- Inclusion and Exclusion criteria
A total of 11 relevant articles were retrieved after they were assessed for their eligibility in meeting the aforementioned criteria.
Literature review
Culture and personality
A particular study drew upon the idea proposed by Darwin and illustrated the hypothesis that violent conflicts between inter-groups play a substantial role in the process of evolution of altruism and human cooperativeness. The central notion held in relation to this argument was termed as parochial altruism and suggested that two cultural or genetic traits, aggressiveness and violence against the out-groups and cooperativeness towards similar groups have co-evolved with humans. Furthermore, emphasis was placed upon the fact that genuine altruism that is usually defined as a major type of help that is obtained at the fitness cost of a supporter is largely governed by cultural transmission (Rusch, 2014). Another article elaborated on the fact that culture is never considered as a separate component from an individual, and is a direct product of human activity. It is intricately associated with the activity, thoughts, actions and feelings of a person. The article was accurate in stating that the sociocultural context plays an important role in shaping the personality through four different nested cultural categories. Furthermore, the article also illustrated that being a person needs a rang eof inputs from different sociocultural practices and meanings, and the personal values and beliefs often act as the centre of awareness, which in turn reflects and incorporates the sociocultural patterns. Thus, the article elucidated on the fact that a cycle of mutual constitution changes the thoughts, actions and feelings of an individual (Markus & Kitayama, 2010).
Similar statements were presented in another study that defined culture as a collective phenomenon that is thought to comprise of socially shared connotations such as, beliefs and ideas, in addition to associated behavioural patterns that are commonly referred to as tasks, practices and conventions. The researchers were further accurate in stating that individuals select a set of accessible cultural practices in the form of their cultural tasks. This is followed by an active engagement for realising the primary values of culture such as, interdependence and independence, in idiosyncratic ways. Repeated commitment to these cultural tasks lead to culturally patterned brain actions, which in turn allow the persons to instinctively and effortlessly enact behaviours that are culturally scripted (Kitayama & Uskul, 2011).
The role of cultural competence in shaping personality was also explained by another study that defined it as the process of acquisition and maintenance of certain skills that are culture-specific. Furthermore, the authors also placed an emphasis on the fact that all opportunities for acquisition and learning of culture-specific information are considered as fundamental for sociocultural adaptation. Cultural experiences and cross-cultural training were also identified as major factors that directly contribute to the initial stages of cultural learning, thereby assisting an individual to change from a layperson to a cultural learner (Wilson, Ward & Fischer, 2013). Other researchers also stated similar facts that intercultural traits often get differentiated depending on their role in predisposing a person to remain in-sensitive to challenges or treats. Stress-associated traits such as, flexibility, and emotional stability were also correlated with reduced tendency of perceiving intercultural situations as intimidating. Conversely, social-perceptual characters such as, open mindedness and social initiatives were also considered to play an important role in predisposing a person to perceiving the challenging aspects, and retorting with positive effects (Van der Zee & van Oudenhoven, 2013).
Culture and Nursing Profession
Throughout the past decades, the nursing profession has been found to continuously evolve its entity, with respect to the changes in the societal expectations and norms, and new medical discoveries. The importance of cultural competence in the nursing profession were explained by researchers in an article where they identified the role of cultural influences in health practices and the way by which illnesses are perceived by healthcare professionals and patients. It was suggested by them that in order to become a culturally competent nursing professional, all nurses should acquire a cultural knowledge base in their specific service area in relation t the health beliefs and practices. Furthermore, sound cultural competence was also identified imperative in preventing nurses from making stereotypical comments and assumptions related to the culture of the clients, thereby increasing an awareness of self-prejudices and biases (Murphy, 2011).
Engagement in work was also identified as a prerequisite to organisational efforts that help in retaining nurses and mitigating shortage of nursing staff. The researchers in a study recognised the dual role that nursing professionals undertake namely, as caregivers and gatekeepers of the healthcare organisation, requires them to develop a culture of engagement. It was accurately stated that sound cultural understanding allows nurses to enhance their values that focus on promoting accountability, autonomy and professional development (Fasoli, 2010). Hoeve, Jansen and Roodbol (2014) also elaborated on the fact that the nursing profession continues to suffer from the effect of cultural values, social norms and traditional beliefs, with respect to professional status and gender.
Stereotypical impressions of nurses were considered as a traditional expression of viewing nursing staff as an essential component of the female family sphere. Moreover, they were also correct in stating that nursing staff most often struggle to gain power in a society that is primarily gender-segregated. This was further elucidated by evidences that cultural values most commonly perceive the nursing job as a feminine activity that is often regarded to have a poor social status in the society. The article was helpful in shedding light on the Chinese caring system that considers people belonging to lower status apt for providing care to those who are of a higher status.
Culture and community
An article also identified culture as a collective and historically situated product that is primarily constituted by a range of beliefs, values, perceptions and other artefacts that are transmitted primarily through language. In other words, culture was defined as a product of human achievements, in addition to being a major determinant of future feats. The article was correct in elucidating on the concept of cultural capital, by linking macro and micro-analysis to account for the connexions between power and culture in normal life (Cruz & Sonn, 2011). The nature of culture in a range of community pharmacy organisations were also evaluated in another study that illustrated on the importance of culture in an organisation in order to promote it success and facilitate the delivery of high level performance. The researchers were correct in elaborating that an inappropriate culture in the working environment most often creates a deleterious impact upon the wellbeing of all employees. Thus, the researchers placed a strong focus on not forgetting the organisational culture, in order to develop healthcare services.
While, community nurses are trained healthcare professionals and understand the worth of positive health outcomes for all patients, there is a need for strong business performance from the health organisations as well (Jacobs, Ashcroft & Hassell, 2011). In another study, the organisational culture factors in healthcare settings were also evaluated that elaborated on the role of work load, unsupportive management, lack of right for changing practice and lack of resources as major barriers in healthcare setting. Gaining cultural competency was found to favour a collaborative workplace that encompasses an easy exchange of ideas, in order to implement optimal healthcare delivery (Williams, Perillo & Brown, 2015).
Analysis
Thus, an analysis of the articles presented in the literature review suggests that the behaviour of a healthcare provider and a patient are primarily governed by their cultural backgrounds. While caring for a patient belonging to a diverse culture, the cultural preferences and values should be taken into consideration in order to display sensitivity and competence (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). The articles suggested that several aspects of personalities differ across a plethora of cultural groups. I gained a better understanding of this fact correlating it with my previous knowledge that while American culture promotes a sense of self, in terms of independence, the Asian culture often promotes interdependence. This is followed by me in my practice here I demonstrate a responsiveness towards all, and always try to explore the ways that can be implemented for delivering a culturally sensitive care.
This is particularly important in healthcare profession because gaining cultural competence refers to development of an awareness of self-existence, thoughts, sensations, and environment, without allowing it to exert an undue impact on people belonging to other backgrounds. I intend to acquire the skills related to transcultural nursing that requires me to understand and accept the client’s culture, and respect all existing differences, in order to adapt the care services to the client’s culture. Furthermore, the articles were also useful in providing an insight into the different components of culturally competent care such as, cultural awareness, skills, knowledge, encounters and desires (Kim & Kim, 2013). The findings were particularly relevant to nursing practice since in recent times, nursing staff have been found to increasingly work will ill individuals from varied cultural backgrounds (Campling, 2015).
This provides a range of opportunities and challenging situations in the process of delivering healthcare services that are congruent with the patient’s preferences and demands. Whether working at nursing homes, hospitals, or within community centres, nurses must have the skill to recognise variances in others (Hassan, Ismail & Maarop, 2013). It is expected that we comprehend patients’ differences in principles, demographics, customs, practices, and needs for medical care, by taking their standpoints into account, while caring for them. However, there was a need to investigate the ways by which cultural contrast can be utilised in working in order to enable the families and patients to deliver meaningful care services. In addition, another major gap in the literature review was that there exists a lack of evidence on the approaches that can be adopted by organisational systems in order to improve cultural competence in healthcare.
Future practice would encompass delivering a culturally congruent nursing care that is defined as a cognitively based, supportive facilitative and assistive care that enables taking healthcare decisions that are tailor-made to fit with the cultural beliefs, values, and notions of an individual or group of individuals (Douglas et al., 2014). Adopting such an approach would support a beneficial, meaningful and satisfying care service. Future implications of this research would also encompass being concerned about the wellbeing, needs and survival of the patients.
Conclusion
To conclude, nursing profession refers to a caring science that focuses beyond the traditional interaction between a nurse and a patient and includes the families, communities, cultures and organisational values. The overriding set of assumptions, beliefs, and myths are formed over time based on events and personal experiences. The authors of the articles discussed in the review elaborated on cultural competence in nursing by elucidated on the fact that cultural respect is essential for reducing health disparities and improving the access to high quality healthcare. Thus, personal culture, transcultural nursing and organisational culture are imperative in modifying the values and beliefs, and directly promote wellbeing of all patients. Therefore, cultural respect is integral to reducing health disparities and improving the access to high excellence healthcare services that are responsive to the needs and demands of the patients.
References
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