Multicultural Clients: A Professional Handbook for Health Care Providers and Social Workers [Hardcover]

Sybil Lassiter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313291403 | ISBN-13: 978-0313291401 | Publication Date: January 24, 1995 | Edition: 1

A professor of nursing, expert in multicultural health care and social services, describes the basic attitudes and beliefs of 15 important ethnic and religious groups in America and shows how these traits can affect behavior during illness or during social work interventions. Sensitive to problems of stereotyping, each chapter on an immigrant group provides some information about its homeland and population in the United States and then discusses the culture's modes of communication, its socioeconomic status, chief complaints, traditional family system, religious beliefs, views toward the elderly, child-rearing practices, culturally based health beliefs and practices, dietary patterns, characteristics relating to morbidity and mortality, beliefs about death and dying, physical assessment, and sources for further reading. The introduction points to a few key sources for continuing information about the care of multicultural patients and clients.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The author of this important work teaches adult and family/community nursing at East Tennessee State University and has written articles in professional journals. The introduction notes that people should be viewed as individuals who may subscribe to the standards of their culture in varying degrees and situations, or not at all. Information on a group does not apply to all individuals in the culture, and there are more differences in beliefs and practices within than between cultures.

Each cultural background is given a separate chapter: African, Arab, Chinese, Cuban, East Indian, Filipino, German, Haitian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Mexican, and Vietnamese. The groups were selected on the basis of high population estimates plus recent immigrant groups about whom knowledge of health beliefs and practices may be limited. As a result, Native Americans are not included. It is questionable if the groups with roots deeps in the U.S., such as Germans, approach health care or social work from the national origin of their forebears. The arrangement of each chapter usually includes descriptions of the U.S. population, communication patterns, socioeconomic status in the U.S., chief complaint, traditional and modern family patterns, regard of the elderly, maternal and child-rearing practices, morbidity and mortality, socialization patterns, religious beliefs about death and dying, and physical assessment such as body size and hair.

For eight of the groups, vocabulary lists are provided that will be useful in treatment, for example, "hello," "pain," and "cold." An explanation of pertinent terms is presented in other chapters, such as restraint or reserve in the culture. Some comparison of cultures is made, but professionals can use the chapters independently. References are found at the end of each chapter, many from public health studies or medical journals. A brief list of periodicals and associations and an index are provided.

This is a valuable work for postsecondary training and academic institutions with health-care and social work programs. It will also be useful for public libraries working with health and social agencies serving the cultural groups included.

Review

.,."as a practical guide, it will be a use to health care and human service workers who come into daily contact with the nation's many ethnic minorities. It is easy to read and presented in a straightforward way."-Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood; 1 edition (January 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313291403
• ISBN-13: 978-0313291401
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,690,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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