In the present day multicultural community, there is a growing need for enhancing the knowledge of healthcare practitioners on cultural and religious beliefs in patients of different ethnical origins. The unique beliefs put into the basis of Chinese philosophy, particularly those concerning the phenomena of death and dying may have a significant impact upon the patients’ attitudes and decision in the end-of-life care and funeral ceremonies and need to be taken into consideration for improving the quality of the health care services.
Most unusual aspects of death rituals in China
Different cultures have different death rituals. The main aspects of Chinese culture deserving serious consideration include the fear of dying in an unknown place and the taboo of injuring the dead bodies which hinders organ donation in the Chinese population.
The most unusual aspect about death is that Chinese believe that dying in your own house is regarded as preferable to dying in unknown places, including hospitals. It may cause difficulties in providing the necessary care to the patients in their end-of life periods. Another peculiar aspect is emphasizing the death of grownups and paying much less attention to the death of infants. The explanation for this aspect is that Chinese culture forbids honoring younger individuals. In that regard, parents cannot mourn due to the death of their children and children’s funerals are mostly held in silence. Another profound point is that Chinese fear of being buried with any of their body parts missing (Visscher, 2006). For this reason even nowadays they are very reluctant to donate their organs, as they believe that they will not be allowed to enter the gate of heaven if they have missing parts of their body. Additionally, Chinese never allow autopsies to be performed on the deceased as a concern of damaging the body.
Universal beliefs on death and dying in Chinese people
Chinese value their funeral and mourning rites and customs, as they believe that improper funeral arrangements may cause problems for the family of the deceased and other people attending the funeral ceremony and not complying with the traditional rules. Observation of the traditional funeral rules is universal among the Chinese people.
Giving preference to the afterlife, Chinese may value death equally to life which can be regarded as a significant hindrance for providing them with health care services of proper quality. On the one hand, there is evidence that the rates of death anxiety are rather high among the Chinese population (Wu 2008). It prevents them from discussing the issues of death and organ donation in the family. On the other hand, the traditional Chinese religious beliefs can make them give preference to staying at home rather than receiving healthcare services at the hospital. The relative autonomy of family is recognized as an important aspect reducing the quality of the provided services in end-of-life care (Lee 2009). It is significant to involve the family members into the discussion of the end-of-life care for improving the outcomes of the medical interventions if applicable and making decisions concerning the possible autopsy or organ donation if necessary.
Comparison of the mourning rituals in the Chinese and American cultures
Mourning in Chinese culture takes place for another 100 days following the actual funeral ceremony. The family of the deceased wears pieces of colored cloth on their sleeves to symbolize their mourning. As to the Baptist traditions, there is no a set time period for mourning, it is rather individual.
In Chinese culture, the first son of the deceased is obliged to mourn for 72 days and cannot get married within that period. Chinese put money into the coffin and burn white paper for ensuring the material welfare for the deceased. These practices involve the purchases of replicas of cars and houses, writing down the name of the deceased on the replicas and burning them. During the mourning period, family members may be required not to wash nor shave their hair and the food consumption has to be limited. Before the dead are laid to rest, the coffin is taken to the altar and white candle is burnt, with prayers and songs as the integral elements of the ceremony.
As to Baptist culture, the mourning rites at the church comprise the songs and pastor’s speeches. The pastor’s speech frequently includes reminding the attendees to look for salvation in coming to Jesus. The funeral services are sometimes held in church or at a funeral home and can last for about 30 minutes to an hour before proceeding to the cemetery.
There Chinese and Baptist mourning traditions have certain differences and similarities having impact upon the people’s attitudes to death and dying.
The impact of knowledge on religious beliefs upon the nursing practice
Taking into account that unique beliefs on death and dying have emerged in the Chinese community, it can be stated that they have a significance upon the preferences and decisions of the Chinese patients facing end-of-life care. The consideration of these unique aspects is critical to enhancing the effectiveness of social work and nursing practices.
The main aspects deserving serious consideration of healthcare practitioners include involving the family into the process of decision making, enhancing the patients’ awareness on the existing measures for treating the fatal diseases and focusing their attention on life at the present moment (Mjelde-Mossey & Chan, 2007). The unique beliefs of the Chinese patients and their families concerning the death and dying may become hindrances for providing end-of-life care and making effective decisions, including those of autopsy and organ donations (Hsu, O’Connor, & Lee, 2009). For this reason, the social work is important for enhancing the patients’ understanding of the problem and overcoming the cultural stereotypes which would allow avoiding suffering and saving lives of other people.
In general, it can be concluded that religious beliefs of Chinese people may have a significant impact upon their decisions in end-of-life care and need to be taken into consideration by nurses working in present-day multicultural environments for ensuring the high-quality of health care services complying with the religious needs of patients and their families.
Reference List
Hsu, C., O’Connor, M. & Lee, S. (2009). Understanding of death and dying for people of Chinese origin. Death Studies, 33(2): 153-174.
Lee, S. (2009). East Asian attitudes towards death – a search for the ways to help East Asian Elderly Dying in contemporary America. The Permanente Journal, 13(3): 55-60.
Mjelde-Mossey, L. & Chan, C. (2007). Survey on death and dying in Hong Kong attitudes, beliefs, and preferred end-of-life care. Social Work in Healthcare, 45(1): 49-65.
Visscher, C. (2006). Eye on religion: Understanding the cultural/religious melange in treating Chinese patients. Southern Medical Journal, 99(6): 683-6384.
Wu, A. (2008). Discussion of posthumous organ donation in Chinese families. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 13(1): 48-54.