Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity - Essay Example This paper will try to explore through an interview of three nurses with different religious sects in order to understand differences and similarities in spiritual healing practices, as well as how to incorporate them despite the diversity of religious beliefs in the health care setting. (1) What is your spiritual perspective on healing? In an interview with a Sikh nurse, she shared that their soul unites with their god. They believe in reincarnation so that healing is not limited to the physical aspect, but more importantly, spiritual healing of which a dead body will reincarnate into a greater being once they have overcome the obstacles of lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. They believe in meditating on the Waheguru or holy name, that they must be diligent and honest in their work, and share the fruit if their labor based on the principles of truth, equality, karma, freedom and justice. For the Buddhist nurse, spiritual healing meant a refuge in the triple gem of the Buddha or enlightened one, the teachings or Dharma, and the community or Sangha. They practice meditation and mindful of others and their environment through cultivation of higher wisdom and understanding. They also invoke their buddhas and bodhisatvas to achieve healing. The Shinto nurse I interviewed said they also believe in spirits they call as â€Å"kami† of which Shinto also is known as â€Å"kami-no-michi†. The spirit and the body are one although even inanimate objects are believed to be inhabited by kami. In achieving spiritual healing, the Shinto practice purification ceremonies called harae or harai, divination, shamanic or third-party healing, and the spirit possession. These are influenced by Buddhism and Taoism or Confucianism traditions. (2) What are the critical components of healing, such as prayer, meditation, belief, etc? For the Sikh and Buddhist, meditation is a vital part of their spiritualism, while the Shinto offer prayers, food, or others in their purif ication ceremonies. In addition, it is part of the Sikh and Buddhist’s spiritual life to maintain harmonious relationship with their fellow beings and their environs. The Shinto on the other hand use ema of which to write their wishes then left at shrine grounds, believe in talisman or ofuda, and the amulet omamori for better health. (3) What is important to people of a particular faith when cared for by health care providers whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own? The hospital and clinic settings have evolved as such that of cosmopolitan structures where various cultures merge. For patients and health care providers, diversity has been accepted if not continuously being promoted. Religious differences are respected but due to the high possibility of difference between the care provider and the patient, spiritual activity is hardly discussed or encouraged by care providers (McLaren, 2004). It is a given that majority of care providers may be Christians who believe in p raying to their God for spiritual and physical healing. This may pose a difficulty for non-Christian believing patients, and therefore, a lack of spiritual assistance may occur. However, as mentioned earlier, diversity calls for respect and acceptance of other faiths, beliefs, culture and tradition of fellow humans in daily encounters such as in a hospital setting. This is most important

The Role of Race to the Caribbean People's Sense of Identity Essay

The Role of Race to the Caribbean People's Sense of Identity - Essay Example 64) are all mixed up, making it almost impossible to give it a single description. And third, as the fight against racial discrimination positively gains ground worldwide, most especially in the land of the whites and as this so-called ‘race ideology’ is increasingly negated by the requirements of globalization. These considerations make ‘race’ an issue to ponder in the Caribbean people’s identity, compelling one to define it in different ways. One way to understand the role of race in the Caribbean peoples’ sense of identity is to group the people based on the main language most people used, as what Safa (1987) did in her article: â€Å"Popular culture, national identity, and race in the Caribbean,† thus the distinction between the Anglophone Caribbean, referring to its English-speaking nations and the Hispanophone Caribbean, referring to its Spanish-speaking nations. ... rly predominant Eurocentric orientation; in the Hispanophone Caribbean, the people’s national identity has remained grounded more on language, religion and other aspects of Spanish culture than on race (Safa, 1987). According to Brodber (1987), this shift in the Anglophone Caribbean’s thinking is greatly influenced by the positive changes in the Euro-American attitudes towards black people during the 1950’s and ‘60s, resulting from the black’s violent struggle against apartheid. This increasing recognition and acceptance of an Afro-orientation by the Afro-Jamaican middle class (the literate class), which traditionally has identified itself only with its European lineage, and the popularization of Afro-orientation primarily through music (e.g. Bob Marley) further broadened the acceptance of the Afro-orientation in the Anglophone Caribbean (pp. 147-149, 156-157). Furthermore, Safa (1987) explains that after achieving their political independence, polit ical expediency left no recourse to the mulatto Creole elite – who identified themselves with European white against their African heritage – but to accept the predominantly black masses of its population as its political constituents. The governing on the basis of white superiority, as how the former colonial society was ruled, will never gain the trust and cooperation of the black masses. Thus, there is the need to favor racial solidarity and to recognize black pride. Given this long waited opportunity, the Afro-orientation, which has long been held and survived in the oral tradition of the black population (the illiterate lower class), unstoppably surges. Today, a greater part of the Anglophone Caribbean regards ‘blackness’ as the symbolism of its nationhood. However, this consensus does not hold true