Cultural Heritage

HERITAGE ASSESSMENT GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY FAMILY CENTERED HEALTH PROMOTION NRS 429 V August 24, 2014 Cultural Heritage as a lot to do with one’s traditions, culture, ethnicity and the ways you perceive your life. Heritage his what differentiates one individual, families and communities to another. Every individual practice and follow their heritage based on one’s ethnicity, religion and cultural background. Heritage his defined as “the range of contemporary activities, meanings and behaviors that we draw from them” (UMASS Amhert, 2012). Cultural heritage his the ways of living development by a community and passed from generation to generation. Heritage can be manifested through tangible forms such has artifacts e.g. museums and collections historical building, and through intangible forms such as voices, values, traditions and oral history. The use of heritage assessment helps nurses during the patient assessment process to obtain more information about patient’s culture, values and their beliefs about health. Cultural heritage assessment his important for nurses in providing patient centered-care. It gives the nurses an in depth understanding of the patient beliefs about sickness and diseases. “One heritage includes information about their cultural beliefs and practices of the family and ethnic religious community” (Javis, 2012). The heritage assessment is also a benefit for nurses on their practice, they are able to evaluate the patient has a whole, their family including where their ancestors were born, there ethnic background. The heritage assessment tool his a guide for nurses to understand individual cultural beliefs, since cultural competency is important in