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Native American Cultural Impact on Healthcare

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Running Head: Native American Cultural

Native American Cultural Impact on Healthcare Sherry Phillips Grand Canyon University NUR-502 March 25, 2015

Native American Cultural Impact on Healthcare Culture plays a unique and significant role going to healthcare process. Each culture has their own belief systems and values. Native American make up 1% of the population in the United States ("Diversity: Understanding and Teaching Diverse Students," n.d.). Understanding their system of beliefs and values would help to benefit Native American women during the prenatal care. When nurses become culturally competent in their care, not only do the patients benefit but the healthcare system does as well. It is important to understanding the Native American culture in order to facilitate their healthcare. Summary of Article One article that discussed Native American women and their prenatal care is “Living in Two Worlds: Native American Women and Prenatal Care.” This article discusses a study that looked at traditional practices related to pregnancy and compare them to current practices related to prenatal care. The review of literature look at barriers to prenatal care that resulted from conflicts between traditional practices and Western Medicine (Long & Curry, 1998). Focus groups were held to look at exploring traditional beliefs and ways to improve prenatal care (Long & Curry, 1998). The authors chose the focus groups from two sites in Oregon (Long & Curry, 1998). The participants consisted of elder and young women separated into two groups by age (Long & Curry, 1998). The age of the elder were 45 years to 80 years; the younger women were ages 18 years to 39 years old (Long & Curry, 1998). The two groups were asked questions to elicit information regarding cultural beliefs related to prenatal care (Long & Curry, 1998). One belief is

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