Explain how environmental factors affect and make cultures different as well as explain how cultural variables influence intercultural competency in communication and
analyze why appropriateness and effectiveness are critical in constructing messages in intercultural contexts./How will you tap into the values of your Somali patient
in order to implement the interventions researchers found clinically effective at the end of the article? Which values will you attempt to tap into? How?
Be sure to carefully review the assignment rubric so that you meet all the criteria.
Course Outcomes: This assignments allows students to explain how environmental factors affect and make cultures different as well as explain how cultural variables
influence intercultural competency in communication and analyze why appropriateness and effectiveness are critical in constructing messages in intercultural contexts.
A helpful resource for anyone going into the healthcare profession is ethnomed.org which offers useful information about diverse ethnic groups in the Seattle area and
how best to address their health needs.
Seattle is home to more than 8,000 Somali refugees. After reading the values held by Somali women (below) and the article My baby refuses to eat!: Overfeeding of
Somali Infants at:
Ethnomed Article (Links to an external site.)
http://ethnomed.org/clinical/mother-and-infant-care/my-baby-refuses-to-eat-overfeeding-of-somali-infants/?searchterm=my%20baby%20refuses%20to%20eat
Imagine you are a healthcare provider who has a Somali patient whose baby refuses to eat because he/she is overfed.
Question: How will you tap into the values of your Somali patient in order to implement the interventions researchers found clinically effective at the end of the
article? Which values will you attempt to tap into? How? Be specific. Give examples. Be sure to integrate course terms from Chapter 10 into your response along
with corresponding page references to the textbook.
Some Somali Values…
– Almost all Somalis are Sunni Muslims.
– The word “inshallah” (“God willing”) guides Somali people throughout life.
– Somalia has been experienced years of civil war. In the early 1990’s the government was overthrown and civil war ensued.
– A Somali woman’s honor and status are highly valued.
– Children are highly valued in Somali culture and are considered gifts from Allah.
– Somali women place a high value on having many children.
– Somali women tend to be stoic about pain; pain is viewed as weakness.
– Somali women value endurance.
– Somali women value motherhood; they receive esteem for their role as mothers.
– Somali culture places a high value on a mother’s health.
– Infant mortality rates are high in Somalia compared to the U.S. 80% of Somali women have experienced the death of at least one child. (The mean number of births
per Somali woman is 5.2 but the surviving number of children is 3.7.)
