The provision of healthcare services for people with obesity is a critical task, and its performance should be based on the considerations of one’s culture, which can potentially affect the outcomes of interventions. In the case of the suggested practices, which are patient education, lifestyle modifications, and adherence to medications, the need for meeting cultural needs correlates with the requirement of paying attention to their personal characteristics. For example, from this perspective, planning care for children will not be similar to the initiatives developed for adults (Messiah et al., 2017). This fact should be considered in the first place, while the considerations of age should be complemented by patients’ backgrounds.
The intention of healthcare providers to eliminate the risks of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer in patients with obesity should be guided by cultural specificities since they determine the results. For instance, the neglect of social connectedness, holistic health, spiritual beliefs, historical trauma, and eating patterns of indigenous populations will indicate the impossibility of increasing these people’s awareness regarding medical needs (Bell et al., 2017). In this case, their education will be complicated, and lifestyle modifications will not be accepted.
In turn, the absence of culturally relevant interventions for Hispanic patients with obesity might lead to non-adherence to medications. It means that the interests of individuals significantly depend on their culture and should be addressed accordingly (Tamayo et al., 2021). However, to successfully introduce any kind of change in this respect, a health practitioner should possess specific strengths and eliminate weaknesses. In my case, the former is reflected by the willingness to learn about cultures, whereas the latter is the stress from the need to apply an individualized approach, which is time-consuming and, therefore, frequently neglected. Thus, the identified gaps in skills should be addressed to ensure compliance with the cultural needs of patients.
References
Bell, R., Smith, C., Hale, L., Kira, G., & Tumilty, S. (2017). Understanding obesity in the context of an Indigenous population – A qualitative study.Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, 11(5), 558-566. Web.
Messiah, S. E., Lebron, C., Moise, R., Mathew, M. S., Sardinas, K., Chang, C., Palenzuela, J., Walsh, J., Shelnutt, K. P., Spector, R., Altare, F., & Natale, R. (2017). Healthy caregivers-healthy children (HC2) phase 2: Integrating culturally sensitive childhood obesity prevention strategies into childcare center policies.Contemporary Clinical Trials, 53, 60-67. Web.
Tamayo, M. C., Dobbs, P. D., & Pincu, Y. (2021). Family-centered interventions for treatment and prevention of childhood obesity in Hispanic families: A systematic review.Journal of Community Health, 46(3), 635-643. Web.