Abstract
The essay emphasizes the value of nursing care that is culturally competent when caring for Muslim and Arab patients. To deliver high-quality care, healthcare practitioners must be aware of their patient’s cultural values and beliefs and consider those. The essay gives a story with five papers examining how Muslim and Arab cultures are impacted by cultural competency in nursing care. The articles emphasize several factors that affect cultural competency in nursing care, including health literacy, religious convictions, cultural values, and attitudes toward cancer screening. To increase cultural competency in nursing care, the essay suggests interventions such as education and training, interpreting services, and the involvement of religious leaders.
Key Words: Cultural Competence, Muslim/Arabic culture, Health Literacy, Nursing Implication.
Introduction
Nurses must be culturally competent to provide patients from different backgrounds with high-quality treatment. It entails being aware of, respecting, and incorporating patients’ cultural values, traditions, and beliefs into the process of providing healthcare. The Muslim/Arabic culture, prevalent in many nations worldwide, has particular healthcare demands. Muslim and Arab cultures have unique views on life, death, and health, which greatly impact how they get medical care(Ali et al.,2020). For instance, the kind and time of healthcare services people receive may be impacted by gender segregation, modesty, and religious customs like Ramadan fasting. In this essay, we will examine the notion of nursing’s “cultural competence” and how it relates to Muslim and Arab cultures. Healthcare professionals can enhance patient outcomes, foster patient happiness, and lessen healthcare inequities in this community by being aware of and incorporating cultural values and beliefs into nursing care.
Cultural Competence in Muslim/Arabic Culture-Narrative
The provision of nursing care must be culturally competent, particularly when serving Muslim or Arab patients. Health literacy and religious beliefs are two aspects of cultural competency in healthcare that might be affected. This annotated bibliography includes the five publications that examine cultural competency in nursing and its effects on Muslim/Arabic culture.
Abdel-Latif and Saad (2019) conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess Saudi citizens’ health literacy skills. The study found that the Saudi population had low levels of health literacy, with education level, income, and age major contributors to the low levels. To improve healthcare service delivery in Saudi Arabia, policymakers must address cultural variables that affect health literacy, such as language hurdles and poor educational attainment. The authors emphasize the importance of developing ways to do this. The essay offers insightful information about how culture affects healthcare delivery and may help create regulations that support cultural competency in nursing.
The relevance of cultural competence in nursing care for Muslim patients and their families is highlighted by Attum et al. (2018). The authors examine how religious ideas and customs like gender segregation and modesty may affect professional judgment. To offer Muslim patients adequate care that meets their needs, the article emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to respect and understand their cultural values and beliefs. The authors suggest several methods for fostering cultural competence, such as education and training, interpreting services, and fostering a friendly environment for Muslim patients. To create nursing care plans for Muslim patients that are culturally competent, the article offers essential information on cultural aspects of healthcare delivery.
The Islamic perspective on nursing and how it relates to the scientific viewpoint is explored in Isworo (2022). The author underlines the importance of nurses comprehending Islamic medical philosophy to give patients nursing care appropriate for their cultural background. The importance of incorporating Islamic principles and values into healthcare is emphasized in the essay. This includes providing customers with holistic care that considers their emotional, bodily, and spiritual needs. The essay offers important insight into the Islamic perspective on healthcare and how it affects the growth of cultural competence in nursing care, making it pertinent to discussing cultural competence in nursing.
The leadership role of imams in promoting health literacy for cancer screening among Muslim immigrants in Canada is examined by Khalid et al. in their study from 2022. The article discusses cultural factors, such as gender norms, modesty, and language limitations, that may affect cancer screening attitudes and actions in Muslim communities. The authors emphasize the value of using imams, revered religious figures in Muslim communities, in campaigns to increase health awareness and cancer screening among Muslim immigrants. According to the paper, imams can significantly eradicate myths and disseminate factual information about cancer screening, fostering cultural competency in healthcare. This article offers an important viewpoint on the function of religious leaders in fostering cultural competence and addressing health disparities in immigrant groups.
In particular, for Muslim patients, Swihart et al. (2022) stress the significance of cultural and religious competence in treatment. According to the authors, healthcare professionals must comprehend and respect their patient’s cultural and spiritual beliefs to effectively treat patients and be attentive to their particular requirements. To increase cultural competence in the medical sector, the article offers several ideas, including the use of interpretation services, the provision of education and training, and the creation of a welcoming environment for patients from different cultural backgrounds. In general, the essay emphasizes the value of religious and cultural sensitivity in providing healthcare, particularly to Muslim patients and members of other varied cultural groups.
Conclusion
In conclusion, when delivering treatments to Muslim/Arab patients, nursing care must be culturally competent. The publications in this annotated bibliography emphasize the value of comprehending and respecting Muslim patients’ cultural practices and beliefs to deliver patient-centered treatment tailored to their requirements. Cultural awareness, gender roles, language hurdles, health literacy, and religious convictions are a few of the aspects that affect cultural competence in nursing care. Nursing care for Muslim/Arab patients might benefit from measures including education and training, interpreting services, enlisting the help of religious leaders, and fostering a friendly environment.
Quotes and Paraphrasings
Abdel-Latif and Saad (2019) write, “Healthcare providers should recognize that cultural factors, such as language barriers and low educational levels, significantly impact health literacy and that efforts should be made to develop policies and interventions that address these factors.” This remark emphasizes the necessity of addressing cultural issues that affect health literacy and fostering cultural competency in nursing care.
In addition, Attum et al. (2018) emphasize that “it is essential to understand and respect Muslim patients’ cultural values and beliefs, such as gender segregation and modesty, in order to provide appropriate care that matches their needs.” To offer culturally competent treatment, it is crucial to comprehend and respect Muslim patients’ cultural values and beliefs, as this remark highlights.
In paraphrasing the findings of Khalid et al. (2022), it can be said that involving recognized religious leaders such as imams can significantly contribute to promoting health literacy and eradicating health disparities relating to cancer screening among Muslim immigrants. This demonstrates the potential for religious authorities to encourage cultural competency in healthcare.
Asserting to the findings of Swihart et al. (2022), distinct cultural considerations may influence clinical decision-making among social groups, and Muslim patients are a key group. To offer good healthcare, this claim highlights how crucial it is to comprehend and consider patients’ cultural and religious views while making clinical judgments.
Summary
When providing care to Muslim/Arab patients, nursing care must be culturally competent. To advance cultural competence in nursing care, it’s critical to address health literacy, language hurdles, gender norms, modesty, and the involvement of religious leaders. These are just a few of the key measures. To deliver patient-centered care that honors the cultural diversity of the people we serve, healthcare providers must work to become culturally competent. In the words of nursing theorist Madeleine M. Leininger, “Culture care is the broadest holistic concept that focuses on the totality of human lifeways, patterns, values, meanings, and expressions.” To meet our patients’ different cultural needs and ensure that they receive safe, effective care, it is our responsibility as nurses to work toward providing culturally competent care.
References
Abdel-Latif, M. M., & Saad, S. Y. (2019). Health literacy among Saudi population: a cross-sectional study. Health Promotion International, Volume 34, Issue 1, February 2019, Pages 60–70, international, 34(1), 60-70. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dax043
Ali, A., Ahmed, T., Ayub, A., Dano, S., Khalid, M., El‐Dassouki, N., … & Mucsi, I. (2020). Organ donation and transplant: the Islamic perspective. Clinical transplantation, 34(4), e13832.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ctr.13832
Attum, B., Hafiz, S., Malik, A., & Shamoon, Z. (2018). Cultural competence in the care of Muslim patients and their families. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 30(1), 86-90
Isworo, A. (2022). Islamic Perspective on Nursing and the Philosophy of Science. medRxiv, 2022-04. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.28.22274408
Khalid, A., Haque, S., Alvi, S., Ferdous, M., Genereux, O., Chowdhury, N., & Turin, T. C. (2022). Promoting Health Literacy About Cancer Screening Among Muslim Immigrants in Canada: Perspectives of Imams on the Role They Can Play in Community. Journal of primary care & community health, https://doi.org/10.1177/21501319211063051
Swihart, D. L., Yarrarapu, S. N. S., & Martin, R. L. (2022). Cultural Religious Competence in Clinical Practice. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29630268/
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