Healthcare
Today, nurses provide health care, education, and case management to an increasingly diverse patient population associated with cultural, linguistic, and health literacy barriers. Culture and language have always been the base for the acquisition and application of literacy skills in health care. However, there is minimal support from the nursing literature to address the literacy concerns among the patients. Cultural barriers, limited English proficiency, and low health literacy have been identified as a triple threat to effective health communication in the health sector.
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is popular among pregnant women in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control(CDC), about 2%-10% of pregnant women in the United States are impacted by GDM. As a result, there has been an increased need for patient education. This is evident in St. Mary’s and Elizabeth Medical Center, where staff members have reported scarcity of the GDM and the nutritional education for Spanish-speaking patients. Racial disparity evident in the GDM directly affects health care in St. Mary’s and Elizabeth Medical. This is as a result of its physical location in the neighborhood of Humboldt Park.
The Nursing joint commission has continuously raised awareness on the need for culturally and linguistically competent health care. Owing to the fact that health literacy is an emerging field, studying languages and culture as determinants of health literacy has been limited. Both in practice and conceptually, health literacy has been anchored on the interventions aimed at overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers. Currently, the strategies developed to address the problem of health care literacy have been distinct and inconsistent with those that increase cultural and linguistic competence in health care.
Carolan-Olah et al. (2017) identify language as one of the significant barriers to understanding the impact of GDM on the newborn and the mothers’ health. According to (Carolan-Olah et al., 2017), language barriers have reinforced the vulnerability of the Vietnamese to the cultural norms of remaining indoors due to the fear of racial harassment as well as the belief that they might be cured by staying indoors. Further, Carolan-Olah et al. (2017) identify lack of knowledge of the patients, low educational status, and low English proficiency as hindrances to nurses in training patients of the dietary measures. Nurses’ dietary prescriptions and advice continue to experience resistance, especially when such contradicts the cultural beliefs and norms of the community they serve.
Zeh et al. (2014) explain that cultural diversity poses a hindrance to health literacy. Lack of knowledge about gestational diabetes among patients has been influenced by the lack of enough health care literature that supports diverse cultures. Zeh et al. (2014) report that strict adherence to cultural norms is one of the barriers to effective health care among diabetic patients. Strong traditions with regard to food and adherence to traditional dishes have been a hindrance to nurse advice and dietary prescriptions. A study of the Surinamese reported that the participants were unwilling. According to Zeh et al. (2014), Cultural barriers are identified as a factor preventing the members of EMGs from seeking diabetes services. A systematic review reveals that cultural adherence to the diet, linguistic differences, commitment to beliefs, and lack of appropriate culturally appropriate services hindered the participants from accessing diabetic services.
References
Carolan-Olah, M. C., Cassar, A., Quiazon, R., & Lynch, S. (2013). Diabetes care and service access among elderly Vietnamese with type 2 diabetes. BMC health services research, 13(1), 447.
Zeh, P., Sandhu, H., Cannaby, A. M., & Sturt, J. (2014). Cultural barriers impeding ethnic minority groups from accessing effective diabetes care services: a systematic review of observational studies. Divers Equal Health Care, 11(1), 9-33.