Asian Culture

This week's culture was focused on the Asian Culture. In this reflection journal I will discuss some cultural family and communication practices, and how it we use this knowledge as health care professionals.


Lesson's Learned: Asian Culture
This week I focused my search on the role of family within the Asian Culture. I've noticed within all my research on the many different cultures, how much family plays a large role on cultural practices. Within the Asian culture the family plays a vital role in one's identity and acts as a protection against trials in life. One key factor to family is, loyalty. This factor along with respect is important within the family dynamics. So if an individual's behavior disrupts the family harmony or brings disgrace into the family, that individual is severely dishonored. Another critical component to the family, is being respectful and abiding to any elders/parents requests and demands. Within this rule of being respectful, it is common practice to only speak when spoken to, or only talk if it's of high importance. Additionally, it is believed that Asian individuals must always show and demonstrate the utmost self-control. It may be common to see Asian patients unwilling to show strong emotions such as pain within the healthcare setting. Due to their family and cultural dynamics most Asian individuals will strive to be stoic-like, which may making interpreting their needs difficult.

Another component to the Asian Culture is a lack of directness within conversations. Within the Asian Culture, it is essential to "keep the peace" and preserve harmony between people. Thus, Asian individuals may be indirect when answering questions to avoid possible harsh feelings. Additionally, the Asian language consists of high context communication. Within their language, there are certain factors within communication that are just as important as actual words. Factors such as eye contact, body gestures, pitch, use of silence, intonation, and word stress play a major role in communication. In most cases, Asians are very concerned with being socially polite with their encounters with others. However, within the American Culture, it is more common for people to participate in low context communication techniques, and most are comfortable with direct questions and answers. Whereas Asian's, may not be comfortable with abrupt and direct questions. Asian individuals may show hesitation when direct questions are asked and may give polite smiles and head-nodding when they may not understand. This polite cultural practice, may be misunderstood to doctors and healthcare professionals as an agreement or understanding of care. When working with Asian patients, it will be important to understand smiling may not indicate complete understanding.

#nursingbyCOURTNEY
Now knowing more about some of common the Asian Cultural beliefs, I think making sure there is an understanding when communicating with Asian families and patients is very important. Additionally, being conscious of how Asian's communicate will be helpful in knowing if the patient understands or is actually confused about a treatment or diagnosis. It will also be important to give the patient adequate time for silence and time for reflection on things that have be talked about. Understanding possible cultural barriers with Asian patients will be important to know and understand in order to give the best care possible.

Courtney's "Two-Cent's" 
After these many weeks of learning about different cultures, I've noticed recognizing and understanding a patient's cultural background is the key to being able to communicate effectively. I've also noticed how much the family influences each culture differently, but overall it is a crucial component to culture. As nurses we must be able to accommodate our approach to fit the cultural needs of our patients and their family members. I hope that after all the things I've learned about all these cultures I will be able to use this knowledge and apply it to my nursing care. I plan to continue developing an awareness for Asian family cultures, to help me understand better how to approach care and recognize ways to adapt to their cultural practices.

References:
http://www.dimensionsofculture.com/2010/10/cultural-values-of-asian-patients-and-families/
Pictures taken from: https://webapp2.wright.edu/web1/newsroom/2011/04/26/wsu-celebrates-asian-culture/asianculture8/
http://asiasociety.org/texas/events/family-day-chinese-culture
http://english.china.com/chinese/everyday/