Essay on My Spiritual Beliefs

I identify with parts of my current generation (the millennials) in many ways, in that we are more progressive thinking, and open to change, as well as diversifying in the lifestyles in which we choose to live, and largely without organized religion (which has led me to become agnostic). I also was raised in a home by two mothers, and that has been a big part of my culture growing up. The lesbian community is very tight-knit, and I had many women in my life who helped raise me and imparted different beliefs and ideals in my life. Something useful to tell others is that not all lesbians are the way they are stereotyped, and my mom is very feminine and raised me as such, and did not raise me to “want to be a lesbian” so to speak. She let all her children make their own decisions, and choices about their sexuality (all of her children ended up being straight). Additionally, we were raised in the country and my mom is from a very small town so she has some older belief styles, which is also contrary to what people assume about the gay/lesbian community. If you met her, you would never assume she was a lesbian. My culture of being raised by someone from a small town who was also a lesbian hasn’t affected my life all that much. My diet, health behaviors, and communication are largely the same as many of my peers. The only variance I could think of is the way we were disciplined because the small-town old-style mentality is a little bit more harsh in punishment than the new millennial ways. We were punished pretty decently if we were disrespectful, and that made us have a great amount of respect for our parents, which is something that my generation can lack with their children. As far as being a patient wanting culturally competent care, I would just want my nurse to be respectful of my parents and family dynamics. My culture impacts my career as a nurse, because I am very aware that every person lives a different life than another, and just because one person might be different from you, that does not mean it is bad. As far as relationships with co-workers go, everyone may have varying life experiences that they bring to their nursing, and being understanding of those differences is very important. My implicit association tests had me slightly biased against disabled and overweight people, which I thought was interesting. I honestly don’t believe I have any bias toward disabled people, because that is largely outside their locus of control, and being biased against those people is unfair. I’m not sure that I believed those tests were honestly fair, however, I will make an effort not to put forward my bias (if it is present at all) in my nursing career, and to be culturally conscious of every different person.

My interviewee is a 53-year-old male who lives with his wife and son and is half of the moneymakers in the household, which is different than my typical culture. He is the focus of my cultural assessment. He was happy to discuss his history, profession, and personal relationships. I was informed that he married his wife 21 years ago and has a big identity as a family man, and as a former police officer whose faith means a lot to him. I used the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence

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Overview and Heritage. My interviewee was raised in Spokane Washington in a Caucasian suburban neighborhood, to a middle-class family, who valued their Christian lifestyle. He nearly completed his four-year college degree, but chose to enlist in the Air Force, and then became a state patrol officer (second generation) after he left the military, from which he retired after 27 years. He values family and was previously married and had two children, and then divorced and was re-married.

Healthcare Practice. His perception of healthcare practitioners, and nurses in particular is, “They are indispensable, and that society would not be able to function without them”. While he is a healthy individual at the time of this interview, if he was ill he would feel comfortable being taken care of by both a female doctor and a male nurse, so he has no gender preference. He said he strongly values the bedside manner of practitioners in care, and that they can make a large difference, and wants to be included in his care choices. He worked security at Harborview additionally during his police years, developed some very strong positive opinions of healthcare practitioners during this time, and views them as allies.

Nutrition. “I want my food healthy, but I want it to taste good”. He discussed how both he and his wife value organic foods and they both have heard that processed food that has a lot of chemicals puts free radicals in your body and that is something they don’t want. They say grace before important meals because they strongly value being thankful before meals and regularly. As far as deficiencies go, he states that his wife is very good about providing lots of vegetables in the home and making sure they have a balanced diet.

Family Roles and Organization. He sees both him and his wife as a team and states that they make decisions together, without one person over the other. He does feel, however, that at the end of the day, he takes responsibility for things that may go wrong, and “we are a little traditional in that way”. He states that he has skills she does not have and she has skills that he does not have and together it is a team effort. He states he does not necessarily like to subscribe to traditional gender roles, and just wants to do what makes his family happy.

Spirituality. “As far as religion goes, we’re Protestant”. He was raised very religious as his father and grandfather are both preachers. He does however believe that every single person is a spiritual being and people should not deny their spirituality even if they have varying opinions, and people are not meant to be alone in the world. As far as prayer and worship, he says it has evolved through the years, and he and his wife tend to pray individually but sometimes together. There was a caveat that people need to be able to think for themselves, beyond the traditional organized religions which he states he does not subscribe to.

If either my interviewee or his family were sick, I could advocate for them by making sure their religious feelings were honored, as well as working as a team and involving them in their care. These people value their relationship with both God and their caregivers and would not want to be stepped all over. A chaplain and communicating with the doctor would help accomplish these needs would be helpful if and when he ever ends up needing health care. I would also advocate for healthy food choices for him and his family, and if they wanted to bring in supplemental organic food (so long as it did not conflict with treatment) I would advocate for that. In the general sense, as a person who is currently not sick, I can also advocate for them by supporting their religious preferences in general life, even if they are different than my own because everyone should be allowed to practice their own spiritual beliefs.

The research article that I chose is titled The Role of Spirituality in Health Care. The overarching theme of this article is how important it is to emphasize the individual holistic care when someone is sick or dying, and how important it plays into the recovery from illnesses. Additionally, the statistical conclusion is that there are better outcomes in patient recovery, and coping with death. I liked this article because it talks about how spirituality plays into the compassion of health care, how cure-driven we have become as a culture in health care, and that it is important to address the whole person and not just their disease process. I also enjoyed how they gave a checklist of the most important questions to ask as a jumping-off point to help begin the conversation with their patient as to what kind of spiritual presence they want (if at all). A striking figure is the piece that states that 65% of doctors felt it was good for them to speak with patients about their spiritual beliefs, yet only 10% did. This presents a huge deficit in the healthcare world about the need for advancement within the healthcare field to move toward involving spirituality in physician-led care. Another example of talking points is involving chaplains as a part of the care team, struck a tone with me because it is a very important piece of the care at Sacred Heart Medical Center, and chaplains are an invaluable resource for patients who are facing life-threatening illness or even their family members. This article pertained to my interview in that it is clear that spirituality plays a major role in many people’s lives, and it is very beneficial to involve it in the health care of our patients.

My second article is titled Organic Food and Health: A Systematic Review. This particular article is a literature review based on organic food and its impacts on the health of the general population and includes 32 full studies. Some of the most critical findings are the decrease in pesticide exposure, decreased birth defects, decreased LDL, and increased levels of nutrients like vitamin C. Another interesting finding is that organic food, contrary to the belief of my interviewee is that there was little decrease in cancer cases, except non-Hodgkin lymphoma which has been thought to have ties to pesticides. Additionally, there were cases of different types of bacterial colonization of some of the organic food, and can be easily rinsed off, which may increase susceptibility to antibiotics. Ultimately, organic food is a great alternative for those who are worried about pesticide use, and who are pregnant or worried about low birth weights or birth defects, and may help with the antibiotic resistance crisis. However, there was the caveat that with organic practices you will have decreased production on a large scale, which is important to consider in the masses (such as for hospital or school food). I think this article is important because it shows that although organic food might not be a cure-all, it certainly decreases many of the negative impacts that food in the 21st century brings, and largely does little to no harm to the consumer. Many people value organic food and feel that it promotes stable farming practices, and makes them feel better, and that is an important piece of their health, and I can see no wrong with that. Organic food consumption may be a nice additional health promotion activity and is increasing in the world today.

References

1. B, V. (2017, June 20). Organic Food and Health: A Systematic Review. Journal of Community
2. Medicine & Health Education, Retrieved September 27, 2019, from https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/organic-food-and-health-a-systematic-review-2161-0711-1000532.php?aid=90187.
3. Puchalski C. M. (2001). The role of spirituality in health care. Proceedings (Baylor University.
4. Medical Center), 14(4), 352–357. doi:10.1080/08998280.2001.11927788