Nursing
It is important to identify and understand your own family culture in order to be able to understand and respect other cultures. Interview a family member, and an individual from another culture with which you are unfamiliar. Some examples of an individual from another culture to consider for the assignment include a neighbor, coworker, patient, or friend. Please inform the individuals of the purpose of this assignment and make sure you receive their consent.
Interviews:
Review the “Family Interview ” template prior to the interview. Additional space is designated on the template for you to create three additional questions to ask both interviewees (family member and person from another culture). Additional questions should be relevant to the readings or discussion and should provide value to the interview by helping to understand culture.
Some of the questions may include:
Family beliefs: Have they changed over generations?
Educational and occupational status in the culture and in the family
Communication methods: verbal and nonverbal
Current family goals/priorities
Family member roles and organizational systems
Spiritual beliefs: current practice and death and dying
Alternative lifestyles
Work attitudes and structure
Written Paper:
Using the “Family Interview ” template, interview your designated family member and the person from another culture. Be sure to write your responses in a way that will assist you in writing your paper. After the interview is completed, write a paper of 750-1,000 words that includes the following:
An introductory paragraph with the reasons for selecting the interviewees
A summary of the responses from the interview template gathered from the interviewees
A comparison and contrast of your findings between the two interviewees
A reflective concluding paragraph on how family roles affect the cultural domains and relationships for each individual.
ANSWER
Family Interview
HLT-324V: Transcultural Health Care
College of Nursing and Health Care Professions
When conducting the “Family Interview,” please make sure that you inform the individual you choose to interview that you will be using their responses in a compare and contrast cultural paper for HLT-324V. It is important that people give you approval to use their personal stories prior to doing so. Please use this template and the following questions below when conducting your interviews. In addition to these questions, you are required to ask another three questions, which you are to include on this template. Please submit this template with your paper by the end of Module 2.
- What are your family roles/gender roles? How are they the same as or different from those traditionally practiced by your culture (who is the head of the household, who makes decisions, how are decisions made, etc.)?
In my family culture, the father is the head of the family with prime powers of making decisions in the house. While our mother contributes to opinions made regarding the household, as a sign of respect, my father acts as the lead. Chores distribution in our household are open with any member of the family able to handle anything in the house. This differs from traditional practices whereby house chores were mainly women role while men went out to provide for the family. As a family with both parents working, this differs from traditional practices where the father was the sole provider.
- What does your culture and family see as primary family goals (education, marriage, etc.)?
In an assessment of the past generations of the family, education remains to be a primary goal. Education is deemed as a key to opening infinite opportunities in pursuit of one’s dreams. The goal to pursue education as a family culture is integral to ensure the family members spread across different fields and professions such as academic, medicine, military, and law.
- What is your culture’s view on alternative lifestyles (living together prior to marriage, domestic partnerships, single parenting, etc.)?
As a family who’s some members have been prompted in a life that can be termed as ‘alternative lifestyles,’ its’ perception and views on the matter are open. The family culture does not view life and living in general in singular form. Rather, the family cultures remain open to what makes one happy. After all, no single aspect of life can be deemed as the absolute best way to live.
- What are your family’s religious beliefs, and have they changed over generations?
Over the generations, our family’s religious beliefs have remained to be staunch Catholic believers. Every Sunday, our family members attend church service and for those that have remained true to the faith receive the Holy Communion. Religious has been an integral feature helping shape our moral fabric from childhood through to different stages in life.
- What are your family’s spiritual beliefs around death and dying?
Our family’s spiritual beliefs around death and dying are held in the view that death and dying is not the end. Rather, it is a pathway to a new external life which we must cultivate through good deeds and believing in God. There is life after death. Hence, death and dying is a process for every living thing, as anything that is born and grows must at the end die.
- What are your culture’s education and occupational status within the family unit?
Every member of the family is expected to pursue their education goals to the highest level possible. This establishes a support system where any member of the family can be guided and offered advice to pursue different career path. In the family, the most common occupational status is employment for adults with most being in medicine, law, and military careers.
- What are your culture’s preferred communication methods (verbal and nonverbal)?
Verbal communication is the most preferred communication method in my culture. Verbal communication is integral for clear, concise, and effective communication between members of the family.
Additional questions:
- What is your culture’s view on relationship to other people?
Our family’s culture remains open and accommodative to relationship with other people. This implies that, our family’s culture is loving and opening to interacting and mingling with other cultures.
- What stake does your family culture hold in the society?
As a family with many learned and educated people, my family culture holds a fundamental stake in our society. This means that in determining the course of our society’s future – involvement of members of our family is paramount.
- What is the legacy set by your family culture in the community?
The legacy of our family’s culture in the community is one that desires to create a role model to follow. That is, cultivate a path in which the community can strive to making itself better.
