4: Culture and Diversity

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

a belief system that the members hold, consciously or unconsciously, as absolute truth.

Question 2

Culture shock

Answer 2

stress syndrome that normally progresses through a series of recognizable stages to its resolution

Question 3

key informants

Answer 3

have an especially rich base of cultural knowledge, are reflective, are willing to share their views, and have consciously considered and are able to articulate their culture

Question 4

culture change

Answer 4

changes from people coming into contact with new beliefs and ideas

Question 5

cultural diversity

Answer 5

increases the plurality of ideas and options for behavior to which people are exposed

Question 6

Ethnocentrism

Answer 6

a way of looking at the world through a personal lens that has been influenced by personality, genetics, family/ relationships, and media. In its mildest form, presents as subconscious disregard for cultural differences; in its most severe form, it presents as authoritarian dominance over groups different from one’s own

Question 7

cultural relativity

Answer 7

the understanding that cultures relate in different manners to the same given situations

Question 8

Rituals

Answer 8

common and observable expressions of culture

Question 9

material culture

Answer 9

artwork, drama, tools, clothes, food, buildings, and rituals

Question 10

Ethnicity (ethnic identity)

Answer 10

refers to a self- conscious, past-oriented form of identity based on a notion of shared cultural and perhaps ancestral heritage and current position within the larger society

Question 11

minority

Answer 11

a group of people within a society whose members have different ethnic, racial, national, religious, sexual, political, linguistic, or other characteristics from most of society

Question 12

race

Answer 12

Race takes biologic characteristics as the markers of separate social status

Question 13

Racism

Answer 13

uses skin color as the primary indicator of social value

Question 14

Tuskegee project

Answer 14

The researchers purposefully subjected black prisoners to syphilis without treatment to study the natural course of the disease

Question 15

institutionalized racism

Answer 15

the differential access to goods, services, and/or opportunities that stigmatized groups may experience, without necessarily involving any specific interpersonal encounter

Question 16

subculture

Answer 16

the way of life, customs and ideas of a particular group of people within a society, which are different from the rest of that society

Question 17

Stereotypes

Answer 17

Assigning people to specific categories because of their culture, race, or ethnic emblems. Preconceived and untested beliefs about people

Question 18

culturally competent nursing: AKA:
transcultural nursing
culturally sensitive care
culturally congruent nursing care

Answer 18

suggests that culture is an integral component of the knowledge and practice base of nursing. An ongoing process with a goal of achieving ability to work effectively with culturally diverse groups and communities with a detailed awareness, specific knowledge, refined skills, and personal and professional respect for cultural attributes, both differences and similarities.

Question 19

transcultural nursing

Answer 19

a synthesis of anthropology and nursing

Question 20

Melanin

Answer 20

protects the skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Its presence accounts for the low prevalence of skin cancers found among Blacks and Indians

Question 21

Mongolian spots

Answer 21

clusters of melanocytes, commonly appearing in Indians, Asian, and Black newborns as poorly circumscribed, macular, blue-black areas of pigmentation, particularly on the lower back around the buttocks. The pigmentation usually dis- appears by early childhood.

Question 22

Assessment of oxygenation with darkly pigmented skin

Answer 22

most easily observable in areas that are least densely pigmented, such as the sclerae, conjunctivae, nail beds, buccal mucosa, tongue, palms, and soles

Question 23

ethnographic interview

Answer 23

Structured way to elicit the respondent’s concepts and understandings:

1. It begins with an open-ended, general question
2. From the patient’s response, the nurse selects some key terms and asks for clarification
3. The last part is documentation

Question 24

explanatory model

Answer 24

questions are posed by the nurse in order to understand the patient’s beliefs about his or her health or the patient’s explanation for his or her condition

Question 25

key informant technique

Answer 25

a method in which the interviewer looks for, locates, and interviews people who have expert or native knowledge about a culture that the interviewer needs to know.

Question 26

iatrogenic

Answer 26

caused by hospitalization

Question 27

Which of the following are characteristics of culture? 
Select all that apply:
a. Learned
b. Dynamic
c. Ethnocentric
d. Relative to context
e. Logical
f. A set of traits

Answer 27

a. Learned
b. Dynamic
c. Ethnocentric
d. Relative to context

Question 28

Nursing care may be influenced by the culture of both the patient and nurse. Which of the following techniques will assist nurses in performing culturally competent care?
Select all that apply:
a. Minimize ethnocentric tendencies
b. Knowledge of biocultural variation
c. Use family as bilingual interpreters
d. Consider client perspective
e. Assign to specific category based on culture

Answer 28

a. Minimize ethnocentric tendencies (maximize cultural sensitivity)
b. Knowledge of biocultural variation
d. Consider client perspective

Question 29

Shared culture is most accurately seen among people with which of the same traits?

a. Ethnicity
b. Skin color
c. Rituals
d. Language

Answer 29

c. Rituals

Question 30

When language differences exist between the nurse and client, the nurse should do which of the following first:

a. Act in the client’s best interest
b. Use a bilingual family member to facilitate assessment/care
c. Establish whether a trained interpreter is needed
d. Obtain a key informant to navigate patient’s cultural cues

Answer 30

c. Establish whether a trained interpreter is needed

Question 31

Examples of subcultures include which of the following communities?
Select all that apply:
a. Deaf or hearing impaired
b. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ)
c. HIV/AIDS
d. Truck drivers
e. Impoverished

Answer 31

a. Deaf or hearing impaired
b. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ)
c. HIV/AIDS
d. Truck drivers

Question 32

Ethnic group

Answer 32

Ethnic group takes social characteristics (such as language, religious tenets, shared beliefs of origin) as markers of cultural identity