Multicultural Clients: A Professional Handbook for Health Care Providers and Social Workers

by Sybil Lassiter

Overview

A professor of nursing, expert in multicultural health care and social services, describes the basic attitudes and beliefs of 15 important ethnic and religious groups in America and shows how these traits can affect behavior during illness or during social work interventions. Sensitive to problems of stereotyping, each chapter on an immigrant group provides some information about its homeland and population in the United States and then discusses the culture's modes of communication, its socioeconomic status, chief complaints, traditional family system, religious beliefs, views toward the elderly, child-rearing practices, culturally based health beliefs and practices, dietary patterns, characteristics relating to morbidity and mortality, beliefs about death and dying, physical assessment, and sources for further reading. The introduction points to a few key sources for continuing information about the care of multicultural patients and clients.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313291401
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/24/1995
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1240L (what's this?)

About the Author

SYBIL M. LASSITER, Ph.D., R.N. , Associate Professor in Adult and Family/Community Nursing, East Tennessee State University, (formerly of Adelphi University, New York) has taught and advised at different institutions in the North and South. Her presentations have emphasized cultural diversity and its impact on the provision of health and social services to America's major ethnic and religious groups./e She has also written on the subject in various professional jourbanals.

Table of Contents

Introduction
African Americans
Arab Americans
Chinese Americans
Cuban Americans
East Indian Americans
Filipino Americans
German Americans
Haitian Americans
Irish Americans
Italian Americans
Japanese Americans
Jewish Americans
Korean Americans
Mexican Americans
Vietnamese Americans
Index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Bernard J. Turnock, MD, MPH (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Description: America has been described at times as a melting pot. This handbook prefers to characterize the nation's population as a mixed salad, with many different racial and ethnic cultures thrown together yet with each retaining their own unique characteristics.
Purpose: Because the U.S. population is becoming increasingly heterogeneous, this little book may well be useful to its intended audience and many others as well. Written by an experienced researcher into cultural differences among Americans, the information is presented evenly and generally without stereotypes.
Audience: This handbook aims at providing health care workers and social workers with insights into 15 different racial and ethnic populations that may be encountered in their work.
Features: There are no remarkable features of this handbook other than its content. There are no illustrations. The references are adequate.
Assessment: This little book serves an important purpose and avoids some volatile potential pitfalls in an admirable manner. It avoids the major risks of overgeneralization and stereotyping by, at times, understating different cultural patterns. Nonetheless, this book is of value to many different groups who increasingly come into contact with racial and ethnic populations with which they are largely unfamiliar. The book provides enough insights into cultural and religious beliefs, communication styles, health status and health seeking behaviors, and family structure to keep health providers and social workers from making assumptions that will complicate their service roles.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

America has been described at times as a melting pot. This handbook prefers to characterize the nation's population as a mixed salad, with many different racial and ethnic cultures thrown together yet with each retaining their own unique characteristics. Because the U.S. population is becoming increasingly heterogeneous, this little book may well be useful to its intended audience and many others as well. Written by an experienced researcher into cultural differences among Americans, the information is presented evenly and generally without stereotypes. This handbook aims at providing health care workers and social workers with insights into 15 different racial and ethnic populations that may be encountered in their work. There are no remarkable features of this handbook other than its content. There are no illustrations. The references are adequate. This little book serves an important purpose and avoids some volatile potential pitfalls in an admirable manner. It avoids the major risks of overgeneralization and stereotyping by, at times, understating different cultural patterns. Nonetheless, this book is of value to many different groups who increasingly come into contact with racial and ethnic populations with which they are largely unfamiliar. The book provides enough insights into cultural and religious beliefs, communication styles, health status and health seeking behaviors, and family structure to keep health providers and social workers from making assumptions that will complicate their service roles.

Bernard J. Turnock

Lassiter, a professor of nursing whose expertise is in multicultural health care and social services, describes the basic attitudes and beliefs of 15 important ethnic and religious groups in America, and shows how these traits can affect behavior during illness or during social work interventions. Each chapter on an immigrant group describes its homeland and population in the US, its mode of communication, its socioeconomic status, chief complaints, traditional family system, religious beliefs, views toward the elderly, child- rearing practices, culturally based health beliefs and practices, dietary patterns, characteristics relating to morbidity and mortality, beliefs about death and dying, physical assessment, and sources for further reading. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

The author of this important work teaches adult and family/community nursing at East Tennessee State University and has written articles in professional journals. The introduction notes that people should be viewed as individuals who may subscribe to the standards of their culture in varying degrees and situations, or not at all. Information on a group does not apply to all individuals in the culture, and there are more differences in beliefs and practices within than between cultures Each cultural background is given a separate chapter: African, Arab, Chinese, Cuban, East Indian, Filipino, German, Haitian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Mexican, and Vietnamese. The groups were selected on the basis of high population estimates plus recent immigrant groups about whom knowledge of health beliefs and practices may be limited. As a result, Native Americans are not included. It is questionable if the groups with roots deeps in the U.S., such as Germans, approach health care or social work from the national origin of their forebears. The arrangement of each chapter usually includes descriptions of the U.S. population, communication patterns, socioeconomic status in the U.S., chief complaint, traditional and modern family patterns, regard of the elderly, maternal and child-rearing practices, morbidity and mortality, socialization patterns, religious beliefs about death and dying, and physical assessment such as body size and hair For eight of the groups, vocabulary lists are provided that will be useful in treatment, for example, "hello," "pain," and "cold." An explanation of pertinent terms is presented in other chapters, such as restraint or reserve in the culture. Some comparison of cultures is made, but professionals can use the chapters independently. References are found at the end of each chapter, many from public health studies or medical journals. A brief list of periodicals and associations and an index are provided This is a valuable work for postsecondary training and academic institutions with health-care and social work programs. It will also be useful for public libraries working with health and social agencies serving the cultural groups included.

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