Self-Assessment Paper
Name
Institution Affiliation
Course
Instructor
Date
Overview and Heritage
I was born and raised in Haiti. I like to identify myself as a Haitian. I lived in Hawaii for a greater part of my childhood, but only moved to the United States in 2013. My ancestry dates back to Haiti and my parents still live in Haiti. My parents were skeptical about my coming to the United States, but managed to get over their stereotypes and supported me in what appeared to be the one of the best decisions I have ever made. SI currently live in the state of Florida, Broward county. One aspect I like about Florida is the high number of Haitians in the state. This makes me feel more at home, despite the fact that I live far away from my cradle land.
Communication
Language and Personality
My full name is Judeline Calixte. My legal name is also Judeline Calixte. I always prefer to be called by my surname, Calixte,since it is more distinct and I have identified with it since childhood. Many of my friends call me Cali. My primary language is Creole. Having been born and raised in Haiti, I was only familiar with Creole and English. I have different English dialect but the most prominent one is the Metropolitan New York English. My proficient Creole has presented various opportunities for me. During my high school years, I was invited to several news-anchoring auditions. As a health care provider, the Spanish language has enabled me develop personal relationships with such patients (Langberg et al., 2019). They felt much more comfortable having someone who understands their language caring for them.
I am a very private person. I rarely share any personal information with my family as well as friends. However, the few times I have shared personal information, I have very found it very helpful for me since I have been given effective advice to help me through various personal issues. Concurrently, most of my friends and kin know that I am a private person, and they also barely share any private information with me. I am very comfortable with this since solving people’s personal problem has always been a difficult task for me. Sharing my feelings is the hardest of them all. I tend to let them slide knowing that time heals. However, I share a lot about my professional life to other healthcare providers. This has helped me gain much more experience on the constantly changing healthcare sector.
Being a private person, I value my personal space. Hence, I do not appreciate being touched by friends, relatives and even patients. For strangers, it is much worse to the extent that when a stranger touch me, I tell them up close and personal that I do not appreciate the fact that they have touched me.
Family Roles and Organization
Decision-Making
In my family, most decisions are made through a shared platform. There is barely any decision that is allocated to males or females. Growing up, my father would let everyone participate in the decision-making process. We would all have a chance to contribute by offering our insight. This aspect made it possible to make effective decisions that had the least consequences on the entire family. The shared decision-making approach has been reflected on my professional life. I often tend to involve patients in decision-making by encouraging them to provide me with their insights as well as preferences.
Workforce Issues
Employee Loyalty
I do not consider myself a very loyal employee. Being a loyal employee majorly means that you may be attached to one organization for the rest of your professional life. For me, this does not tickle my fantasy. With the current competitive industry, we are often tempted to look for better opportunities elsewhere. Even when approached by a rival, some of us ditch the loyalty aspect and move on. I have changed employers severally and whenever I find a much better opportunity. My thought process is that in as much as loyalty is noble, it may impede professional progress. I will therefore leave just for the sake of my professional career ambitions.
Biocultural Ecology
Major Family Illnesses
The most prominent illness in my family is asthma. Everyone in my immediate family, save for my mum, has asthma. To make it more interesting, the severity increases as we move down the family line. For instance, my youngest sibling has the most severe case of asthma while the eldest sibling is not entirely affected by the condition. Our asthmatic conditions have impeded us from being active in various sports because of easy chest congestion. However, in my years as a senior high school student, I learnt that regular exercise reduces airway inflammation and since then, this has been my way to avoid frequent asthmatic attacks.
High-Risk Health Behaviors
Exercise Frequency
I am quite regular in my physical exercises. I do 2-mile morning runs three days in a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I also do a 5-mile run on either a Saturday or Sunday, depending on my work schedule. I also do a 10–15-minute yoga session twice every week. I schedule my yoga sessions in the evenings on days that my shift ended during the afternoon. I as well go to swimming at least once a month. All these exercises have been crucial in reducing my calorie count as well as weight management by keeping the Body Mass Index within healthy echelons (Petridou et al., 2022). I have thus been able to avoid many lifestyle diseases.
Nutrition
Seasonal Diet Changes
I am a firm believer in changing my diet in accordance to the current season. I have heavily invested in this aspect for the past 5 years. During the summer, I consume more light foods such as fruits. I also increase my water intake so as to keep hydrated from the sweltering heat. During the winter, I consume more fish, eggs and chicken. I also take a lot of broccoli and soup to keep warm. Changing diet with varying seasons helps the body get an array of vitamins and minerals which may have been insufficient (van der Toorn et al., 2020). This is vital in upholding good health and wellbeing, in addition to avoiding various diseases.
Pregnancy and Childbearing Practices
Baby Help after Delivery
I prefer my mother to be my closest companion after delivery. My mother did an exceptional job raining and nurturing us and would therefore be good company to guide me on the first important steps after delivery. Her pieces of advice have enabled myself and others cruise through the first days of the baby in a safe and affirmed manner. She is full of confidence as well as assurance. Her prayerfulness is another factor that prompts me to have her close to me because for me, the first few days after delivery have always been difficult.
Death Rituals
Meaning of Death
For me, death signifies transition into a new life. Being a Christian, I have firm belief in the concept of life after death. Consequently, when someone dies, they have gone to live another life, that is free of pain and suffering. The life that comes after death is also eternal and full of glory. Another personal meaning of death that reflects on me is it is a time for celebration and reflection. We celebrate the life of the departed and at the same time, reflect on our current lives in order to gauge whether or not we qualify for the perks of eternal life.
Spirituality
Prayer
I am a Christian but I do not pray as often as I feel I should. Most of my prayer sessions are before meals and when I see someone in a difficult situation and I am completely unable to help or be there for them. However, whenever I am in a difficult situation, prayer tends to be my major weapon. I turn to God instantly and ask him for His guidance. I feel as if this is not a good practice because I only ask for help when things go sour but when everything is okay, I often forget to thank Him for His Mercies and Grace. Not to justify but I used to be very prayerful until I went through one of the most trying times in my life. At that point, I felt that my prayers were not being answered. I am however working on a formula to try and pray at least three times in a day.
Health-Care Practices
Organ Donation
I am a firm believer in organ donation. However, in my belief, I examine all the parties and how the donation would affect each party. If one party would be adversely affected by the donation, then it is prudent to explore other mechanisms. However, when both parties can greatly benefit, then the donation should take place. My view is that organ donation should be aimed at improving the quality of life of the recipient, while not affecting the donor’s quality of life and putting them in any form of health risk. I also think that financially driven organ donations are unethical and should be made illegal. Organ donation needs to be on one’s on volition without being motivated by financial spurs.
Health-Care Providers
I see both nurses and physicians whenever I am ill. However, there is a variation in this I see physicians when I feel that my illness may be significant and can affect the quality of life. I also visit a physician when I have a persistent illness which the nurse’s interventions were not effective in eliminating it. I see nurses when I have a minor health concern or when I need to have a physical assessment or blood test to confirm or deny the presence of a certain disease. I am however more inclined towards trained health care providers as opposed to traditional providers.
References
Langberg, E. M., Dyhr, L., & Davidsen, A. S. (2019). Development of the concept of patient-centredness–A systematic review. Patient education and counseling, 102(7), 1228-1236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2019.02.023
Petridou, A., Siopi, A., & Mougios, V. (2019). Exercise in the management of obesity. Metabolism, 92, 163-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2018.10.009
van der Toorn, J. E., Cepeda, M., Kiefte-de Jong, J. C., Franco, O. H., Voortman, T., & Schoufour, J. D. (2020). Seasonal variation of diet quality in a large middle-aged and elderly Dutch population-based cohort. European journal of nutrition, 59(2), 493-504. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-019-01918-5