Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness

Book excerpt: For courses in Community/Public Health Nursing, Transcultural Nursing, and CEUs Promotes a mindfulness of the dimensions and complexities involved in caring for people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The ninth edition of Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness examines a given health care consumer's intangible cultural heritage, diverse HEALTH beliefs and practices, the relevant issues within the modern health care system, and the impact of the demographic changes that exist within North America and globally. (HEALTH = the balance of the person, both within one's being- physical, mental, and spiritual-and in the outside world-natural, communal, and metaphysical. Terms such as HEALTH are written this way to emphasize their holistic meaning.) It features rich illustrated examples of traditional HEALTH beliefs and practices among selected populations. An emphasis on the influences of recent social, political, and demographic changes helps to explore the issues and perceptions of health and illness today, while introductory and capstone chapters help place material within perspective.