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Cultural Heritage Assessment in health and Illness

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Cultural Heritage Assessment in health and Illness
Running head: CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN HEALTH AND ILLNESS

Cultural Heritage Assessment in health and Illness

Grand Canyon University:

The United States has always been an open country with its kindness in welcoming people of other nations into it. The population of the United States is growing notably because of the migration from the rest of the world. This writer lives in Richmond, a city in the state of Virginia, a multicultural city that is heavily populated. The presence of such a population density increases the awareness of health care professionals in their ability to be receptive to other cultures. Heritage or culture is the nonphysical, inherited traits we possess and includes practice, religious beliefs, traditions, language, geographical origin, skills, and knowledge passed down through generations. Heritage assessment is an important tool in identifying and evaluating the health care needs of a person and can also be used to identify one’s behavior towards the health care system and the provider. To be professionally competent, it’s essential to know one’s own heritage prior to learning the society’s heritage. The writer is an Asian American, a native of India, coming from an extended family with 8 members. In the writer’s family, parents are the decision makers on all important matters including health.
The particular society to which the writer belongs holds certain beliefs such as disease is caused by God Karma. Karma is the belief that what one did in the past can have a positive or negative impact on his or her life in the future, respective to one’s action in the past. This leads the patient into believing that his or her sickness is a result of Karma. Traditional treatments known as Homeopathy and Ayurveda are the treatment modalities people use to support, maintain, and regain health. Meditations and other prayers, hot and cold applications, medicinal water, and the use

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