Transcript ethnicity culture and diversity

Ethnicity, Culture & Diversity
Ourselves
 Ourselves and other people
 How it affects us at work
 Bradford’s Asian community

Who are you?
Dimensions of diversity, some
more visible than others







Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Nationality
Language
Skin colour
Religion






Class (wealth?
education? family?
Occupation
Sexual orientation
Political orientation
Disability
Culture
Understanding different cultures
… or stereotyping?
General issues when
language and culture
differ between doctor
and patient







Non-verbal communication
Use of interpreters
Health beliefs
Differing agendas of doctor and patient
Need more time
Practice organisation
Need special health promotion materials and
methods
Working as a GP with Patients
from Bradford’s Asian
community
Useful things to know
Bradford’s Asian community
Mostly from Mirpur in Kashmir
 Mostly Muslim
 Mostly from an unsophisticated rural
community, low educational level
 Languages: Urdu, Punjabi, Mirpuri
 Dam built on houses and land in Mirpur and Bradford mills needed labour

Most Bradford Asian families
originate from Mirpur
From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000, Chicago,
IL 60601. All rights reserved. Three new states were created in November 2000 but are not
shown on this map. World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.
From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000,
Chicago, IL 60601. All rights reserved. World Book map
A reminder don’t generalise,
don’t stereotype,
don’t forget importance of
Class
 Education
 Religion
 Age/generation

Asian families
Respect for elders
 Families more important than individuals
 Distinct roles for men and women
 Importance of mother in law
 Big families, desire for sons
 Taboo subjects - termination of pregnancy,
STDs, domestic abuse
 Cultural conflict for those born in Britain

Muslim patients
Don’t drink alcohol - in theory
 Don’t take tablets or medicines during
fasting hours in Ramadan
 Women aren’t allowed to pray when
bleeding

Some medical issues






Commoner in Asian patients: TB,
rickets/osteomalacia, thalassaemia
Hugely increased incidence of diabetes and IHD
Not tuned into psychiatric diagnoses (use the
word ‘stress’)
Consanguineous marriages: recessive syndromes
Seem to be a high degree of medically
unexplained symptoms/somatisation - BUT high
morbidity
Patients may be consulting other healers
Some common health beliefs of
people from Mirpur
‘hot’ and ‘cold’ food
 Gas in the stomach is bad and can migrate
to the head
 Important to be buried with all your organs
inside so you can rise after death
 Eating oily food is good - not only tasty
but makes you fat (being skinny is a sign
of disease)

A reminder don’t generalise,
don’t stereotype,
don’t forget importance of
Class
 Education
 Religion
 Age/generation

Want to do more?
Your group presentation?
 Videos on cross cultural consultations
 Video of BBC4 programme about South
Asian doctors who came to the UK
