Wk3 Cultural Beliefs in Death Flashcards
1
Q
What is culture?
A
- Most focus on a particular group and their customs, traditions and ways to create meaning
- Will have to be learned/taught but this is often unspoken or by following a role model
- Overlap with ethnicity, nationality, religion
- More flexible - sub culture, counter culture
2
Q
Has death become less cultural?
A
- Medicine ‘taking over’ from friends and family
- Death mainly takes place in hospital
- Professionals prepare body for funeral
3
Q
What is a medicalised death?
A
- ‘Imperialist intervention’ - people are deprived of their traditional vision of what constitutes health and death (Illich 1976)
- Moving from home into hospital
- Medical intervention may disrupt natural death and may be distressing for family
- Negotiation between medical professionals and family on what is desirable (e.g. pain management, tube fed)
- The dying person may have expressed their wishes e.g. DNR
4
Q
What is the modern concept of palliative care?
A
- Built on openness about and acceptance of being at the end of life
- Autonomy of the dying person - deciding what they want to happen
- Main aim is improving the quality of life (sometimes) over quantity
- Death is ideally in a hospice or at home rather than at medical site
5
Q
What are inequalities in palliative care?
A
- BaME communities access palliative care services less and are less likely to undertake formal advance care planning possibly because of:
- Different illness patterns (less cancer ?)
- Awareness of services?
- Is ‘planning for death’ a meaningful concept?
6
Q
What are issues for providers and patients?
A
- Knowledge of what services are available
- Referral by professionals e.g. GPs
- Are South Asian families looking after their own?
- Hospitals often staffed by WB, Christians
- Need for interpreters, communication
- Understanding particular needs/wishes
7
Q
Why do cultural deaths not happen?
A
- Knowing about different religions/cultures is important but ‘fact file’ is not enough (simplistic)
- Health providers may feel overwhelmed
- Training may be too general and not helpful
- Culture may be foregrounded an individual preferences lost
8
Q
What is the ASKED model of cultural competence (Campinha-Bacote 2003)?
A
- Have I asked myself the right question? :
- Awareness (of one’s own background)
- Knowledge (about culturally diverse groups)
- Skill (integrating knowledge in clinical practice)
- Encounters (engaging in and reflecting on transcultural interactions)
- Desire (motivation and wanting to engage)
This is a process…
9
Q
What are important questions regarding death?
A
- When should discussion start?
- Who should this discussion be with?
- How much can be assumed?
10
Q
Why are funerals important?
A
- Symbolic of beliefs (what does the patient think will happen after death)
- Important role for the dead person’s family
- Funerals are shaped by tradition (religion but also other social conventions)
- Different rites even where religion is shared
- Traditions can be comforting e.g. churchyard burial for people who were not firm believers
11
Q
Are there new kinds of death rituals?
A
- Social media increasingly important after a person dies
- Social media as a memorial
- Condolences - who contributes and how?
- Danger when anyone can post?
12
Q
How are funerals different?
A
Muslim: never cremated
Hindu: cremated ASAP
13
Q
What differences to think about?
A
- Involvement of family e.g. who prepares body
- Timing of funeral - many traditions mandate this as early as possible
- Does it matter whether it is burial or cremation?
- Symbolic clothing/items to accompany the body (e.g. Sikh steel bangles, Hindu threads)
- Who attends the funeral and what are their roles in service or ceremony?
14
Q
How does migration affect funerals?
A
- Send body back to home? e.g. Sikhs take ashes back to be scattered in the Punjab
- Who will look after grave?
- Traditional funerals (pyre) vs. what is allowed in UK
- Dedicated locations e.g. muslim section at Handsworth Cemetary
