Vietnamese Heritages

Indian, Turkish and Vietnamese Heritages

Indian Heritage

           Vietnamese Heritages   Indians believe that health is the balance between the physical, psychological and spiritual elements of the individual’s life. Their health-seeking behaviors include dieting, hygiene, religious rituals and adequate sleep and rest. Medical care for Indians is a combination of traditional and modern practices. Indians tend to stigmatize mental illnesses and cognitive disorders (Purnell, 2012). These health issues are attributed to supernatural causes such as the evil eye. Indians opt to perform self-medication for the stigmatized conditions. They tend to hide or underreport pain because they believe that accepting pain and suffering is important to the individual’s spiritual progress. Family and friends are a valuable source of health-related information and advice.

Turkish Heritage

            The Turkish attribute illnesses to both natural and supernatural causes. Their health-seeking practices include maintain good hygiene, fasting, sleep, rest and magical-religious practices. The Turkish health care is a combination of the traditional and modern medicine. The patient’s parents and other family members should be consulted before a major healthcare decision is made (Kittler, Sucher & Nahikian-Nelms, 2011). The extended family is a valuable source of social and emotional support for the patient. The Turks hold nurses and physicians in high esteem and rarely question their authority. However, they tend to seek a second opinion on the prescribed treatment.

Vietnamese Heritage

            The Vietnamese believe in the biological, spiritual and humoral imbalance as the causes of illnesses. They believe that health is the absence of pain or other distressing symptoms. The use of traditional practices and healers is a common practice in Vietnam. When a Vietnamese consults a medical doctor, he will expect the prescribed treatment to work quickly. They attribute mental health issue to supernatural causes and wear amulets for spiritual protection (Dayer-Berenson, 2014). A Vietnamese patient may resist the drawing of blood during tests due to the fear that the blood loss will make him weak.