Class-Related Values:
- Class is a category of division based on socioeconomic status. Members of a class are theoretically assumed to possess similar cultural, political and economic standards and principles.
- Individuals belonging to lower socioeconomic groups tend to be marginalized and are under-represented in the shaping of the cultural norms of a community.
Culture-Related Values:
- Macro-cultures include national, ethnic, or racial groups; micro-cultures include gender, age, religious beliefs and other factors that determine roles, behaviors and values. Both combine to shape an individual’s world view and influence their interaction with others.
- Culturally based beliefs and traditions can affect the course and outcome of disease. Health care providers constitute a culture with a distinct system of values, beliefs, and learned patterns of behavior. Patients and health care providers both bring their respective cultural backgrounds and expectations to the medical interview. Cross-cultural differences can introduce obstacles to delivery of appropriate care. Eg.:
- The Western emphasis on the individual may limit the understanding of the central role that family plays in managing illness in many other cultures.
- Western medicine characterizes disease on a biological or pathological basis, whereas in some cultures, the concept of illness is patient-centered and more subjective.