Description
- Health is important to all of us. Its a concern for everyone around the world. This includes our mental health as well as physical health. It may surprise some, but culture contributes to the maintenance of our health and the causes and treatment of disease. Health and disease are not defined the same in all cultures and what leads to good health also varies depending on the culture. Levels of access and care vary as well. In a multicultural society like the United States, it is important to understand this. From a psychology perspective, there are psychosocial and sociocultural factors that influence health, but these too vary depending on ones culture. To meet the needs of a culturally diverse society, its crucial to realize that the influence of culture on health is real and understanding its influence will help you meet people’s needs. Write a 700- to 1,050-word response to the following questions from Culture and Psychology.
Three indicators of health have been studied worldwideinfant mortality, life expectancy, and subjective well-being.- What other indicators do you think are important for assessing a countrys health and well-being? How would you measure it?
- Choose a health outcome (such as obesity or a disease). Identify and describe biological, psychological, and social factors that may contribute to the development of the health outcome.
- Can you think of any psychological disorders that only appear in your culture? How would you study whether a disorder is specific to your culture?
- There are several barriers to seeking mental health services that may explain racial or ethnic disparities. Think about the category of gender.
- Do you think there would also be gender disparities in seeking out and using mental health services? If so, explain what specific barriers may account for these disparities.
- Cite a minimum of three sources.
Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.Instructor Notes: This is a signature assignment. It is an expository paper where you are providing legitimate academically-based information. This is not about you, or your opinions or experiences. Most every sentence should have a citation with it. Write a minimum overall 700- to 1,050-word response to the following questions from Culture and Psychology. You can do over the 1,050 words for your overall paper, but please do not be under 700 words overall. Remember, your citations and references do not count in the word count.
Part 1: Three indicators of a country’s health have been studied worldwideinfant mortality, life expectancy, and subjective well-being. What are at least two other indicators you think are important for assessing a countrys health and well-being? How would you measure each of these? Make sure you have citations to back-up your thinking.
Part 2: Choose one physical health outcome (such as obesity, diabetes, heart failure, liver failure, chronic bowel syndromes, chronic obstructive lung (pulmonary) dysfunction, high blood pressure, various cancers, various muscle disorders, etc. Identify and describe biological, psychological, and social factors that may contribute to the development of this one health outcome. Make sure you separate out each of the description areas with subheadings, and you have citations for your information.
Part 3: Think about psychological disorders that are found in your culture. You may want to consult a recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, so you are using legitimate psychological disorder terminology. Identify one psychological disorder. This disorder is not your health outcome from part 2. It is not a developmental disorder. Does the psychological disorder you chose appear only in your culture, or more in your culture than in other cultures in the United States (or other parts of the world)? What is your source for this information? How would you study whether a psychological disorder is specific to your culture?
Part 4: There are several barriers to seeking mental health services that may explain some of the disparities in findings of frequency of psychological disorders across different cultures. Think about the category of gender. Why do you think there would also be gender disparities in seeking out and using mental health services? Explain what specific barriers may account for these disparities. Make sure you have citations that back up your thinking. While gender should bring to mind a wide range of differences, in terms of finding literature for this, you may need to think in terms of male and female and maybe transgender, depending on the cultures you are using.
Cite a minimum of three sources, not including your text. These should be peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles or government website sources.
Format your assignment according to APA guidelines. Do not have an abstract. Your headers should be: Introduction, Two Indicators for Health Assessment, Biological, Psychological, and Social Factors of a Health (physical) Outcome, Psychological Disorder’s Statistics and Culture, Gender Disparity in Mental Health Services, Conclusion, References.