Souffrant, Francillone
Cultural and religious beliefs have a significant impact on the patient’s perspective of health. People do believe that illness may be an indication that a patient has sinned or gone against the religious teachings (Moreira‐Almeida, & Cook, 2016). Based on culture illness may be perceived as an indication that someone has angered the forefathers as well as cultural gods. Thee perceptions may affect whether a patient agrees to take the medications prescribed or to engage in health promoting practices such as getting immunized. Some parents have stated that the use of cell from fetus in making vaccines I against their religion and have thus refused to vaccinate their children. It is important that health promotion strategies help demystify some of the beliefs that are detrimental to health.
Reference
Moreira‐Almeida, A. & Cook, C. C. (2016). WPA position statement on spirituality and religion in psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(1), 87-88.
Cabrera, Yolanda
Religion and spirituality plays a significant role in how patients deal with their diagnosis. In some cases, spirituality has proven to be very beneficial because it helps give hope to the patients and this in turn has positive benefits on the health of the patient (Farahani, Rassouli, Salmani, Mojen, & Khademi, 2019). Spirituality and religion may also negatively impact the attainment of positive health outcome. As nurses, it is our role to promote healthy behaviors through educating the public on important practice. However, we ought to respect the religious, cultural and spiritual beliefs of the patients at all times and be professional. I agree that cultural competence is thus important for nurses.
References
Farahani, A. S., Rassouli, M., Salmani, N., Mojen, L. K., & Khademi, F. (2019). Evaluation of health-care providers' perception of spiritual care and the obstacles to its implementation. Asian-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing, 6(2), 122-129.