Religion and health and wellness

There are a multitude of factors that can act as barriers or impediments to successful health promotion and disease prevention efforts . A barrier is defined as any obstacle that might interfere with the ability of the health practitioner or his or her culturally diverse client , whom the practitioner is intending to provide interventions , to be able to fully achieve the intended assessment , intervention , or evaluation objectives . The range of potential barriers is extensive and not necessarily easily categorized . Some of the clustering of these variables is demographic , cultural and health care systems

barriers that have been identified as some of the potential impediment to health promotion and disease prevention efforts . It is important to recognize that many of the barriers identified will be weighed by the degree of acculturation and assimilation of the client being targeted for health promotion intervention , and it is incumbent on the health practitioner to assess these levels before implementing programs . Although many of these barriers are fairly self explanatory , a few at several of these will help to highlight the importance as such things such as religion when working with or planning health promotion programs and services for the culturally diverse . For example , gender may become an issue when seeking to provide health promotion services such as screening mammography . Mo (1993 ) describes the problems in providing this type of service to Chinese women and notes that cultural values associated with modesty and sexuality , couples with institutional barriers such as the unavailability of educational materials written in Chinese and a lack of female physicians , played a significant role in the low number of women in her study who accessed breast health services

For an example I examined the Appalachian culture in regards to religious beliefs and health care . Religion in the Appalachian culture is very central to their health care . They have fatalism towards how health care is viewed . They believe in literal interpretation of the bible and follow the belief in God 's Will , but it will not prevent them from seeking care in some cases . These studies find that Appalachians consider both their faith and the potential benefits of medical care when seeking solutions to health problems (Behringer Friedell , 2006 . Religiosity among the Appalachian culture is usually strongest in individuals 50 and older . Groups under 50 when family life and material comforts variable are added , will raise and equal the views of individuals 50 and over (Ergood Kuhre , 1976 ,

.249 . Religion is for this culture very centralized "If one were to consider one significant part of Appalachian culture which appears to be more typically Appalachian than other parts , undoubtedly it would be Appalachian religion (Ergood Kuhre , 1976 ,

. 247

Religion or supernatural beliefs play an important role in the delivery of health care services . In many cultures , the causes of certain illnesses are explained in supernatural terms rather than natural or scientific terms . In Appalachian belief it is the will of God . How these folk beliefs and explanation are dealt with by members...