Heritage Assessment

Cultural heritage plays a big role in the economic, social and health promotion of the individual. The use of heritage assessment tools helps healthcare providers evaluate and look at someone’s heritage, as well as traditional health methods used to maintain health, protect health, and restore health; by applying these concepts it helps healthcare professionals deal with a person’s physical, mental, and spiritual beliefs. Different cultures have different values and beliefs of health, disease, illness, birth, and death; assessing these cultural competencies is important in order to provide a holistic approach. Heritage assessment tools helps both the patient and the health care provider by opening a pathway for an
The family does not participate in any specific ethnic activities. They live in a diverse suburban community with families from different ethnic and religious beliefs. Health maintenance and protection beliefs are of modern medicine and practiced through wellness checkups, immunizations, as well as alternative holistic medicine such as chiropractors and massage therapists. The diet of the American participant consists of American homemade cooking as well as dining out at various fast food and sit down restaurants and a sedentary life style. They also have three children of school age. In the Hispanic culture religion is a very important part of the culture as well as the family. Families are usually big and live very closed to each other, and like getting together regularly, this helps with reducing stress and worry which improves health; health maintenance needs to be looked at in a holistic approach that incorporates family as a support system. In the Romanian culture families are greatly influenced by religion, and community. The family support system is also important in health maintenance. The American heritage has a cultural diversity with conservative and liberal views, religious beliefs, and family dynamics. Being the greatest country on the planet as evidenced by the number of people coming here both legally and illegally; the American culture is a true melting pot of several cultures and heritages.