The capacity to associate well with others from diverse backgrounds have a productive interaction, and value varied cultural backgrounds are known as multicultural communication. Multiculturalism dates back to the barter trade era when communities could associate and share their traditions while buying and selling items. Buying and selling goods allowed different communities to interact and share their way of living and items, hence promoting their identity. From then on, this led to promotion in various sectors. The need to fill the communication gaps in different cultures to enable equitable access to better services arose. Through multiculturalism, giving out health services got better.
Acculturation, ethnicity, and culture share many similarities, like promoting customs, behavior, or value change, but they are not alike. For example, culture refers to shared beliefs, norms, and practices that give a group of people an identity and control their behavior and beliefs (Shavitt & Barnes, 2020). However, acculturation is the change in culture and behavior that comes from intercultural for a group of people (Berry, n.d.).On the other hand, ethnicity is the shared identity based on language, cultural traditions, racial traits, geographical space, and religion. It helps identify individuals whose distinctive culture appears in their prior cultural and social heritage.
Cultural and religious differences impact the communication and engagement of people and their health professionals. Culture may influence health services interaction by affecting patient communication, perception of illness, attitude toward healthcare providers, and treatment preference. For instance, some cultures may cause conflicts in treatment decisions since they prefer traditional medicine over conventional medication. Religious beliefs affect healthcare decisions, such as some religious prayer times, which I strict may interfere with medication (Swihart, 2023). Recognizing these differences can lead to better communication, mistrust, and suboptimal healthcare outcomes.
Inpatient education and hereditary family culture are vital in shaping patients’ beliefs, attitudes, and behavior toward healthcare. Some cultures influence attitudes toward healthcare by making people believe it is taboo to talk about illness and death. Also, other cultures influence members of the family in making health decisions. In the modern world of health care, this has all changed, and patient education has been linked with patient safety, improved care quality, and health outcomes. Effective patient education requires understanding and integrating families despite their beliefs to attain desired outcomes.
Healthcare professionals can employ various strategies concerning dealing with religious and cultural diversity. Firstly, they should learn about diverse cultures in order to be able to understand identity anxiety and body language. Also, they should learn the patient’s language to communicate well with their patients while avoiding using offensive phrases. Furthermore, they should encourage open dialogue and active listening, which allows their patients to express themselves.
There are various types of illiteracy, which include cultural illiteracy, functional illiteracy, moral illiteracy, literal illiteracy, and civil illiteracy. Healthcare professionals communicate using simple language for their patients to understand; however, others are affected by the type of illiteracy stated. For example, cultural illiteracy is the need for more understanding of diverse cultures, which must be clarified among them. Functional illiteracy means that patients with basic illiteracy are hampered from daily tasks. Moral illiteracy influences ethical decisions.
According to a study by Zhang (2020), it was discovered that illiteracy has a significant impact on physical health, on average it has been able to decrease physical health by 19.9%, decrease exercise habits by 7%, increase anxiety by 11.56%, increase loneliness by 17.6% and decreased happiness by 11.3%.by the above illiteracy can be considered a disability since it limits patients from getting necessary information and participating in the society. To counter illiteracy as a disability, healthcare providers should use clear language, visual aids, and verbal communication techniques to enhance comprehension.
There have been many myths about illiteracy that have caused misunderstanding and stigma. Hence, a need for healthcare professionals to teach patients to improve health outcomes has appeared. Examples of those myths include the belief that illiteracy results from laziness; others believe that it results from low-level education and that it only affects people with low socioeconomic status. In reality, illiteracy can affect anyone from whatever background. Dispelling these myths is crucial to promote empathy, support, and understanding for all those affected by literacy difficulties.
By assessing patients’ literacy skills using validated screening tools like the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA), through this tool, patients can read and understand medical instructions, prescription labels, and health-related documents. Assessing literacy skills becomes instrumental to mitigating illiteracy in healthcare. After assessing the patient,t education materials are designed based on the literacy level to promote compliance and all treatment results.
Effective communication between the patient and healthcare professionals is essential since it creates a good rapport and delivers high-quality healthcare. By practicing verbal and non-verbal communication, health professionals establish good communication. Creating an inclusive and welcoming environment builds trust and causes the patient to feel comfortable expressing themselves regarding their concerns and preferences. Health professionals use explicit language and avoid medical jargon to clarify communication with the patient. Furthermore, by applying nonverbal cues like using and understanding boy language, eye contact conveys empathy and creates rapport with patients.
In conclusion, according to Dave (2021), healthcare professionals can help patients remember information by encouraging notetaking; this causes an increase in memory retention by as much as 70% and promotes vital communication through emails to the patients. Additionally, healthcare providers should write instructions for them to act as a point of reference. Healthcare providers should also encourage family participation in patient education to help them by reminding them of instructions they forget. Lastly, healthcare providers should use videos or pictures to develop a mental image when teaching their patients.
References
Berry, J. W. (n.d.). Search. Cambridge Core. https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=John%20W.%20Berry&eventCode=SE-AU
Dave. (2021, March 10). Help patients remember instructions – 4Imprint Learning CTR. 4imprint Learning Ctr. https://info.4imprint.com/enews/4-ways-to-help-patients-remember-post-visit-instructions/
Shavitt, S., & Barnes, A. J. (2020). Culture and the consumer journey. Journal of Retailing, 96(1), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2019.11.009
Swihart, D. L. (2023, July 24). Cultural religious competence in clinical practice. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493216
Zhang, Q. (2020). The cost of illiteracy: A causal inference study on how illiteracy affects physical and mental health. Health Education Journal, 80(1), 54–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896920949894
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