ANSWER
Guidelines for Cultural Interviews
Interviewing someone from a cultural background distinct from your own will help you investigate cultural variations in health beliefs, practices, and values. This approach will assist to improve nursing practice’s cultural competency and sensitivity.
Preparation:
Name someone you would want to interview.
Select someone from a culture apart from your own.
Excellent candidates are immigrants, first-generation Americans, older folks with great cultural understanding.
For your interview, think about friends, colleagues, neighbours, or community members.
Plan the interview.
Check the optional and required questions.
Choose at least fifteen questions: three from each of the extra groups (Groups 1–5) plus the required group questions.
Plan the interview for a time and location that guarantees comfort and privacy.
Get ready with supplies.
To record answers, bring a notepad or recording device—with permission from the interviewee.
Interview Technique:
Needed Group: Cultural Affinity
Beginning the interview with open-ended questions regarding the cultural background of the interviewee,
Sample questions:
Tell me about your cultural group.
Where did you grow up, and how long have you been living here?
Of the elements of your culture, which ones most define you?
Group 1: Views Regarding Present Illness
Find out how the interviewee defines disease and its effects.
Sample Questions: Your problem is what? You give it what name?
What do you suppose started it? Why did it start when it did?
Regarding your disease, what most worries you?
Group 2: Medical Exchanges
Talk about their approaches to sickness control and health maintenance.
Examples of questions:
Which foods or activities do you and your family engage in to keep healthy?
Do you specifically eat particular meals or preparations when sick?
Are spiritual or cultural rituals included into medical procedures?
Group 3: Views on Illness and Approaches of Treatment
Investigate the applications of conventional and new cures.
Sample Answers:
Have you sought out conventional healers or remedies? If so, what did your experience reveal?
Which medicines do you now use?
How would you reconcile Western medicine with customs?
Fourth group: Family Life and Support System
Recognise the part family and support networks play in decisions about health.
Sample Questions: Which important members of your family participate in healthcare decisions and what roles do they serve?
Who helps you during illness? Do you need help getting in touch with them?
Who decides when someone is unwell in your culture?
Group 5: Planning and Health
Find more about their approaches for health promotion and any conflicts in the treatment.
Sample Questions: How do you keep health and avoid disease?
Exist any possible contradictions between your cultural customs and recommended treatments? How do they get resolved?
When seeking healthcare, what communication difficulties arise?
Paper Writing and Post-Interview Commentary:
Opening:
Present the interviewee together with their cultural background.
Indicate the goal of the interview and explain how it relates to nursing.
Results:
Show the answers arranged by the interview groups:
Cultural Involvement
Views Regarding Current Illness
Medical Techniques
Illness Views and Methodologies of Treatment
Family Life and Support System:
Health and Planning Analysis:
Think about how the answers of the interviewee fit or deviate from your cultural viewpoint.
Talk about acquired insights and how they could affect nursing practice.
Final Thought:
List important results and their applicability to provide culturally sensitive treatment.
Rules of Submission:
APA 7th version of formatting.
Double-spaced, length: roughly 3–4 pages.
Citations: Add references for any outside sources—such as films, Pew Research reports, or cultural materials.
Following this framework can help your cultural interview to reveal important aspects of the variety of health beliefs and practices, therefore improving your cultural competency in nursing.
QUESTION
NUR 302 Cultural Interview (2022)
Pew Research Center Studies
Cox, K. & Tamir, C. (2022, April 14). Race is central to identify for black Americans and affects how they connect with each other. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/04/14/race-is-central-to-identity-for-black-americans-and-affects-how-they-connect-with-each-other/
Horowitz, J. M., Brown, A., & Cox, K. (2019, April 9). 3. The role of race and ethnicity in Americans’ personal lives. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/04/09/the-role-of-race-and-ethnicity-in-americans-personal-lives/
Ruiz, N. G., Shao, S., & Shah, S. (2022, August 2). What it means to be Asian in America. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/08/02/what-it-means-to-be-asian-in-america/
Videos on Culture
Mosley, J. (2017, December 1). Cultural humility. TEDx Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww_ml21L7Ns
Parks, F. (2015, March 16). How culture connects to healing and recovery. TEDx Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Tkb879dsY
Culture by Country/Region of the World LIVESCIENCE Online Articles on Various Cultures:
American Culture: https://www.livescience.com/28945-american-culture.html
Indian Culture: https://www.livescience.com/28634-indian-culture.html
Mexican Culture: https://www.livescience.com/38647-mexican-culture.html
Italian Culture: https://www.livescience.com/44376-italian-culture.html
Russian Culture: https://www.livescience.com/44154-russian-culture.html
German Culture: https://www.livescience.com/44007-german-culture.html
Chinese Culture: https://www.livescience.com/28823-chinese-culture.html
Roma Culture: https://www.livescience.com/64171-roma-culture.html
Shona People (South Africa): https://www.livescience.com/58039-shona-people.html
Questions to Ask
There is one REQUIRED GROUP and 5 other groups of interview questions below. Ask the REQUIRED GROUP questions and then select at least 3 bullet points from each section to write your interview paper assignment. You’ll need 15 (bullet points) plus the REQUIRED questions as a minimum for this assignment. You may always ask more questions if your interviewee and yourself has the time to go into more detail.
Locating a Person Interview: Seek out a person from a culture different from your own. Ask friends, coworkers, neighbors for a good subject to interview. Selecting an immigrant or a first generation American may yield a more interesting interview. Older adults carry more cultural information and so make excellent interviewees!
Plan The Interview in Advance: Before beginning the interview, plan out your questions, take a notepad with you to record the interviewee’s answers, always be thinking what else can you ask?
Before beginning the interview, consider the following questions and then seek out the answers by asking the open-ended questions.
· What does the client think about the nature of the illness or injury? What does the client believe to be its cause?
· How does the client usually deal with illness or injury? What are the client’s expectations about treatment? How can others help?
· What support systems are available to the client? Is support from family, community, or ethnic groups available to the client during and after treatment?
· Does the client need assistance contacting these individuals?
Examples of Open-Ended Questions for a Cultural Assessment
REQUIRED GROUP: Cultural Affiliation
I am interested in learning about your cultural heritage. Can you tell me about your cultural group, where you were born, and how long you have lived in this country?
Group 1: Beliefs About Current Illness
· What do you call your problem? What name do you give it? What are the chief problems your sickness has caused for you personally, for your family, and at work?
· What do you think has caused it? Why did it start when it did?
· What does your sickness do to your body? How severe is it?
· What do you fear most about your sickness?
Group 2: Healthcare Practices
· What kinds of activities or other things do you do to maintain health? For example, what types of food do you eat to maintain health?
· What foods do you eat during illness, and how is food prepared?
· What other activities do you or your family do to keep people healthy (e.g., wearing amulets, religious or spiritual practices)?
· How do you know when you are healthy?
Group 3: Illness Beliefs and Care Practices
· How would you describe your past experiences with cultural healers and Western health professionals?
· What kinds of things do you do to treat illnesses? Do you use traditional healers (shaman, curandero, sabador, priest/priestess, espiritualista, herbalist, acupuncturist, Reiki)?
· What remedies are you currently using (e.g., herbal remedies, foods, potions, massage, wearing of talismans, copper bracelets, acupuncture, or charms)?
· What remedies have you used in the past, and which did you find helpful? What remedies or treatments are you considering now, and how can we help?
Group 4: Family Life and Support System
· Who are the members of your family? What family duties do women and men usually perform in your culture? Who determines when a person is sick in your family or household?
· Whom do you consult when making healthcare decisions (e.g., other family member, cultural or religious leader)?
· Who will be able to help you during and after treatment? Do you need help to contact these people?
Group 5: Health and Health Planning
· What strategies does the client use to promote or maintain health, to prevent illness/injury, and to treat existing illness? What communication problems might occur?
· What biological and social factors should the nurse consider when planning care? What healthcare risks and individual needs characterize the client’s culture?
· What does the client want from traditional medicine? What problems are foreseeable?
· What decisions can be anticipated? Are there potential conflicts between the client’s traditional remedies and the regimen prescribed by the physician?
· How will these conflicts be resolved? How might any legal or ethical problems be addressed?
Sample questions taken from: Blais, K.K. & Hayes, J.S. (2015). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives. (7th ed). Pearson. p. 417.