Health Disparities In African American Culture
African American Culture and Health Disparities
Vanessa Marmon
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing, Cohort 11
Professor Battick, Nur 642 - Cultural Diversity
June 23, 2016
African American Culture and Health Disparities Culture is one of the things that makes groups of people special, unique and interesting. Just like any other culture, African Americans have traditions that they hold near and dear to their hearts such as the music, dance, religion, food and health beliefs. Although it is always wonderful to celebrate culture and the good things about other cultures, it is just as important to assess the harmful traditions for the purpose of bringing awareness and improvements. …show more content…
Some African Americans attend church every Sunday along with other church related activities, while others attend occasionally, watch church service on television or only go on Easter Sunday. Religion is a corner stone in the Black community providing fellowship, community and a second or extended family. The church is also used for support and is often used as a vehicle for health screening (Levin, J., Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J., 2005). Another corner stone of African American culture is the food. Traditional cultural cuisine, known as “soul food”, can be traced back to southern states and consists of favorite dishes like baked chicken, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens, string beans, red beans and rice, black eyed peas, succotash, baked ham, grits, chitterling, fried fish, cabbage, candied yams, cornbread (Yang, Y., Buys, D. R., Judd, S. E., Gower, B. A., & Locher, J. L., …show more content…
Originally designed in 1952 by Godfrey Hochbaum, Irwin Rosenstock and Stephen Kegels when a free tuberculosis screening didn’t draw in many participants, the model was used as a means to understanding the poor turnout. The model uses determinants or key factors to predict whether a person will change or maintain a behavior. The key factors include (a) perceived susceptibility - whether a person believes they can get an illness, (b) perceived severity - a persons belief on how bad an illness is, (c) perceived benefits - whether a person believes that doing what the healthcare provider says will help prevent them from becoming ill or help them get well, (d) perceived barriers - physical or phycological things that deter the person from taking action, (e) cues to action - external information that tells a person that they need to take action to prevent getting ill or take action to get well, (f) self-efficacy - a persons belief that they can do what needs to be done to prevent getting sick or to expedite getting well. Using these six key components, behaviors regarding health prevention and promotion can be predicted (James, D. C., Pobee, J. W., Brown, L., & Joshi, G.,
Vanessa Marmon
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing, Cohort 11
Professor Battick, Nur 642 - Cultural Diversity
June 23, 2016
African American Culture and Health Disparities Culture is one of the things that makes groups of people special, unique and interesting. Just like any other culture, African Americans have traditions that they hold near and dear to their hearts such as the music, dance, religion, food and health beliefs. Although it is always wonderful to celebrate culture and the good things about other cultures, it is just as important to assess the harmful traditions for the purpose of bringing awareness and improvements. …show more content…
Some African Americans attend church every Sunday along with other church related activities, while others attend occasionally, watch church service on television or only go on Easter Sunday. Religion is a corner stone in the Black community providing fellowship, community and a second or extended family. The church is also used for support and is often used as a vehicle for health screening (Levin, J., Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J., 2005). Another corner stone of African American culture is the food. Traditional cultural cuisine, known as “soul food”, can be traced back to southern states and consists of favorite dishes like baked chicken, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens, string beans, red beans and rice, black eyed peas, succotash, baked ham, grits, chitterling, fried fish, cabbage, candied yams, cornbread (Yang, Y., Buys, D. R., Judd, S. E., Gower, B. A., & Locher, J. L., …show more content…
Originally designed in 1952 by Godfrey Hochbaum, Irwin Rosenstock and Stephen Kegels when a free tuberculosis screening didn’t draw in many participants, the model was used as a means to understanding the poor turnout. The model uses determinants or key factors to predict whether a person will change or maintain a behavior. The key factors include (a) perceived susceptibility - whether a person believes they can get an illness, (b) perceived severity - a persons belief on how bad an illness is, (c) perceived benefits - whether a person believes that doing what the healthcare provider says will help prevent them from becoming ill or help them get well, (d) perceived barriers - physical or phycological things that deter the person from taking action, (e) cues to action - external information that tells a person that they need to take action to prevent getting ill or take action to get well, (f) self-efficacy - a persons belief that they can do what needs to be done to prevent getting sick or to expedite getting well. Using these six key components, behaviors regarding health prevention and promotion can be predicted (James, D. C., Pobee, J. W., Brown, L., & Joshi, G.,