Filipino Cultural Characteristics

And Health Care Beliefs

 ❏ Discuss the importance of Cultural
OBJECTIVES beliefs in Health Practices
❏ Explain different Filipino
HealthCare Beliefs and Practices
❏ Describe relevant cultural
characteristic in health care
❏ Relate the theory of Transcultural
Nursing in Health Education
❏ Appreciate the Filipino culture
 ➢ The cultural orientation of the Filipinos is
basically connected with the cultures of
other groups such as the Mexicans and the
Spanish, also from the Indian and Chinese
cultures.
Filipino Cultural Values ➢ Some of the traits of the Filipinos evident in
their culture are: their belief of utang na
and Health Practices : An loob (debt of gratitude), pakikisama
(harmony), close family ties, among others.
overview (“Filipino Society and Culture”, 2007)
➢ The Filipino culture represents a set of
mixed practices that drive from both the
indigenous components and the ones
borrowed from the Western culture
➢ The Filipino communities dwelling in the
rural areas tend to gravitate to the natural
remedies, alternative medicine, and
supernatural practices
Cultural Characteristics
Knowledge of cultural customs
enables health care providers
to
offer better care and help avoid
misunderstandings
 Purnell’s definition of Terms
➔ Acculturation

➔ Assimilation
Larry Purnell Model for
Cultural Competence ➔ Culture

➔ Competence

➔ Cultural awareness

➔ Cultural diversity

➔ Cultural relativism
 ➔ Ethnic
Purnell’s definition of Terms
➔ Ethnocentrism

➔ Ideology

➔ Subculture

➔ Transcultural

➔ Worldview
 Purnell framework ➔ Nationality
➔ Race
❖ Primary characteristics of culture
➔ Color
➔ Gender
➔ Age
➔ Religious affiliation
❖ Secondary Characteristics of
Culture
➢ SES socioeconomic status
➢ Physical characteristics
➢ Education status
➢ Occupational status
➢ Place of residence (urban and
rural)
Purnell model depicted in a circle:

➢ Global society - outermost

➢ Community - second sphere

➢ Family – third sphere

➢ Individual – fourth sphere

 ➢ One culture is not better than another-
Purnell assumptions they are different
➢ The primary and secondary
characteristics of culture determine
the degree to which one varies from
dominant culture
➢ Culture has a powerful influence on
one’s interpretation of and response to
health care
➢ Every individual has the right to be
respected for his own uniqueness and
cultural heritage
 ➢ prejudices or biases can be
Purnell assumptions minimized with cultural
understanding
➢ caregivers who are intervene in
culturally competent manner
improve the care of patients and
their health outcome
➢ cultural differences often require
adaptations to standard
professional practices
Questions to be use to understand
General areas to assess when
patient perspective of health first Meeting with patient
❖ what do you think caused your problems?
❖ why do you think the problems started
when it did?
❖ which major problems does your your
➢ Patients perception of health and Illness
illness cause you? ➢ Traditional remedies and folk practitioner
❖ how has being sick affected you?
❖ how severe do you think your illness is? ➢ Patient perception of nurses
❖ Do you see it having a short or long term
course? ➢ Beliefs about the role of family and family
❖ What kind of treatment do you receive? relationship
❖ what are the most important result you
hope to obtain form your treatment ➢ Perceptions of and need of emotional
❖ what do you fear most about your illness? support
 ➢ Self-Medication – over the
counter drugs
Different Filipinos Health ➢ Home Remedies – Chinese oils or
Practices and Beliefs ointments
➢ Traditional Healing Techniques –
albularyo (Folk healers)
➢ Belief in Supernatural Ailments –
faith healers
➢ Concept of Wind Illnesses –
Ventosa technique (to treat kabag)
➢ Laying of hands
➢ Blessing of Holy Water or Oil
➢ Psychic Surgery
➢ Spiritual Healing
 ➢ Hospitality. This is one of the most popular
8 Characteristics of Filipinos qualities of Filipinos.

➢ Respect. This is often observed not just by

younger people but also by people of all ages

➢ Strong Family Ties and Religions

➢ Generosity and Helpfulness. Filipinos are

generous people

➢ Strong Work Ethic

➢ Love and Caring

➢ Fatalism “come what may”

➢ Crab mentality
 ➢ Health Beliefs &
Behaviors
● Response to illness
Relevant Cultural
● Coping styles
Characteristics in Health ➢ Cultural Values
Care ● Interpersonal
Relationship
● Family and Filial
Responsibility
● Spiritual life and Religion
 ➢ Through Leininger's theory, nurses can
observe how a patient's cultural background is
related to their health and use that knowledge
to create a nursing plan that will help the
patient get healthy quickly while still being
sensitive to his or her cultural background.
The Theory of ➢ It focuses on the fact that different cultures
Transcultural Nursing in have different caring behaviors and different
health and illness values, beliefs, and patterns
Health Education of behaviors.
➢ It involves knowing and understanding
different cultures concerning nursing and
health-illness caring practices, beliefs, and
values to provide meaningful and efficacious
nursing care services to people’s cultural
values and health-illness context.
 Cultural Care Theory Transcultural Nursing The cultural care theory aims
(Madeleine Leininger) to provide culturally congruent nursing care
through cognitively based assistive, supportive,
facilitative, or enabling acts or decisions that are mostly
tailor-made to fit with individual's, group's, or
institution's cultural values, beliefs, and lifeways"
(Leininger, M. M.,1995).
A substantive area of study and practice focused on
comparative cultural care (caring) values, beliefs and
practices of individuals or groups of similar or different
cultures.
 ➢It is necessary to respect each patient's cultural
heritage, beliefs and practices
Nursing Management of a
Culturally diverse Groups ➢A health care provider not fully aware of patient's
background,
maybe unable to understand many of the patients health
belief
and practices

➢Lack of knowledge and understanding may unintentionally

turn what should be therapeutic experience into degrading
humiliating experience for patients

➢When caring for patient be conscious of ethnocentrism

➢When planning for educational material for patient whose

primary language is not english, must obtain interpreter
➢ Identify patient primary language. Assess
ability to understand, read and speak the
Guidelines in Cultural Assessment
language of the nurse.
➢ Observe interaction between the patient and
his family
➢ Listen to patient. find out what the patient
want differs from what the family wants and
how they differ from what you think is
appropriate
➢ Consider the patient communication abilities
and pattern.
➢ Observed behaviour and clarify
beliefs and practices that may interfere with
the treatment
➢ Plan become oriented to individual and family
sense of time and time frame
➢ Determine which communication approaches
are appropriate with respect
➢ Assess religious practices and determine
how his or her religious belief influence
perceptions of illness and treatment