Culture and Health Attitudes
According to Huff (1999), the concepts of health held by various ethnic and immigrant groups within the United States may differ from and even contradict the health concepts of the mainstream society. This assignment will give you the opportunity to look at the concept of being healthy cross-culturally. You will interview someone who has a different cultural background from your own, and through the interview, you will identify cross-cultural similarities and differences in health-related behaviors. Choose a person to interview with a different cultural background from your own. Use the questionnaire given in the resources to interview your chosen person and yourself. Write up the responses from both interviews. Analyze the responses: What kind of similarities and differences did you find between your definition of being healthy and your partner’s definition? What kind of similarities and differences did you find between your responses and your partner’s responses in the attitudes and behaviors concerning keeping good health? Did you find any cultural values reflected in your responses and your partner’s responses? What impact do you think gender or sexual orientation play in attitudes and behaviors related to health? How can the knowledge of cultural differences inform social policy related to health care? You may choose to use the template provided in the resources for this paper. Your paper should be 4–5 pages in length Reference Huff, R. M. (1999). Cross-cultural concepts of health and disease. In R. M. Huff & M. V. Kline (Eds.), Promoting health in multicultural populations: A handbook for practitioners (pp. 23–39). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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When conducting the interviews, it’s important to choose someone from a cultural background different from your own. This will allow you to explore the cross-cultural similarities and differences in health-related behaviors. The questionnaire provided in your resources can serve as a useful guide for the interview process.
After conducting the interviews, you can write up the responses from both interviews and analyze them. Look for similarities and differences between your definition of being healthy and your partner’s definition. Explore any similarities and differences in attitudes and behaviors related to maintaining good health. Pay attention to cultural values that may be reflected in the responses.
Consider the potential impact of gender or sexual orientation on attitudes and behaviors related to health. Reflect on whether these factors influence health beliefs, practices, or access to healthcare within different cultural contexts.
Lastly, discuss how knowledge of cultural differences can inform social policies related to healthcare. Explore how understanding diverse cultural perspectives can help shape policies that are more inclusive, equitable, and effective in meeting the health needs of multicultural populations.
In your paper, you can structure your analysis using the provided template or organize it in a way that best suits your writing style. Aim for a length of 4-5 pages and remember to cite the reference you mentioned in your question (Huff, 1999).
