title:
The Somali Bantu’s Encounter With Healthcare: A Critical Inquiry
creator:
Tshabangu-Soko, Sibusisiwe Thandekile
subject:
Dissertations, Academic.
description:
Faced with an increasing number of immigrant patients with different cultural backgrounds, the US health care system has been under increasing pressure to rise to the challenge posed by the cultural context of new immigrants and refugees. This qualitative critical inquiry explored healthcare experiences of the Somali Bantu community in Manchester New Hampshire and identified problems that emerged as participants engaged and interacted with the health care system. The study used grounded theory to explore micro-narratives, dilemmas and challenges faced by participants.Four major findings emerged from this study. First, participants were not healthy though they had access to health care. They found themselves trading off their cultural and religious practices for better health. Second, participants reported lack of trust between patient and health practitioner. Their interactions with health practitioners (especially regarding autopsies) sometimes contributed to stress, anxiety, and risk. Third, participants felt pressured by health care providers to ignore their cultural and religious practices. They found themselves trading off their identity for access to health care, and in the process violating their religious beliefs and values. Lastly, when accessing health care services, participants faced limited choices. During childbirth, women preferred female practitioners to attend to them, in line with their religion and culture, but found such options very limited. In addition, this study revealed that health practitioners sometimes were inadequate in addressing issues posed by cultural, religious and ethnic histories of immigrant and refugee populations, especially in hospital encounters.This study offered four recommendations. If benefits of a better health care system are to translate into better health for Somali Bantu patients, sociocultural factors should be incorporated into undergraduate, graduate and continued health professions education. To ensure doctor/patient interaction reduces stress, anxiety and risk for both parties, existing minimum standards regarding the time practitioner spends with a patient should be increased. To ensure there is no pressure on patients to violate their cultural and religious practices, the racial/ethnic diversity of health professionals should be increased, and health practitioners should be sensitive to gender preferences. Trading off cultural and religious practices compromises dignity and voice and hence identity. If there are to be more choices for patients who access health care services, their preferences should be factored in health delivery. If the goal is to increase better health outcomes, the US health model should be an amalgamation of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) and Traditional/Other with patients defining what Traditional/Other means.
publisher:
Simmons University (Boston, Mass.)
contributor:
date:
2020
type:
Text
format:
1 PDF (149 Pages)
identifier:
td_hpe_2020_tsst
source:
language:
English
relation:
coverage:
rights:
Material from the Simmons University Archives collections are made available for study purposes only. For more information, or to request rights to reproduce or reuse any material, contact the University Archives at archives@simmons.edu.
