Reference no: EM133595735

Case Study: Your sociocultural background profoundly affects your attitudes, behaviors and relationships with others, and can affect your clinical interactions. Sociocultural norms influence your attitudes toward acceptable illness behaviors, obesity, sexual behaviors, geriatric patients, "family values," the importance of work and many other emotionally charged issues. Moreover, the culture of your care team and clinical training program affects your reactions to patients. For example, if your seniors have contempt for "frequent flyers" or manipulative substance abusers, you may develop similar attitudes that may limit your ability to offer compassionate care to these individuals. Becoming aware of the sociocultural influences on your attitudes and behaviors can help you offer more just and professional care.

Questions: Exercise: reflect as assigned about the following questions.

1. To what culture do I belong and/or to what culture do I identify?

2. What values come to mind that I particularly like and dislike as I think about my cultural heritage?

3. In reflecting on a cross-cultural interaction with a patient/client or colleague, what factors helped me feel a sense of congruence ("in synch") and /or a sense of dissonance ("out of synch")? (answer here)

4. How has the culture of my clinical training affected my attitudes?