Family Cultural Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Family Cultural Values - Essay Example Filipino Americans have created a language that includes elements of English as well as Tagalog known as ‘Tag-lish’- and this is commonly used, particularly in the younger generation of Filipino-Americans. Filipino society places great emphasis on the practice of ‘kapwa’ or shared identity. This society emphasizes on the importance of developing strong relationships between all members of society. In traditional Filipino society, there were domains of interactions that marked all social as well as communal activities (Espiritu, 2007). The external domain was marked by civility, known as pakikitungo, pakikilahok- or participation in societal activities, pakikitungo – or mixing with others, and pakikisama, which literarily meant adjusting one’s perceptions in order to fit better in one’s society. All these stages were essential before one could be held in full trust- or pakiisa- by the society (Espiritu, 2007). The enduring values extolled by Filipino society could be said to be the result of years of having to share more than 7000 islands even though just 1000 are inhabitable. Religion also plays a central role in Filipino society. There are traditional animistic religions that are still practiced in some sections of the Philippines. Moreover, most Filipinos are Catholics. There are small minorities in Mindanao and Sulu that are Muslims, though (Espiritu, 2007). The central place of faith even among Filipino Americans is such that even matters of health are given interpretations based on issues of faith. The importance of prayer and faith as important aspects in securing healing from disease is a reality in Filipino-American society.... This essay stresses that In America, most Filipino Americans tend to combine aspects such as maintaining balance, exercising the body, and sustaining harmony to ensure that they remain disease free or fight off opportunistic infections. There is also an emphasis on maintaining social relationships with various important people in one’s life in order to keep the psychological man happy as well. The stress on the significance of maintaining balance within the body’s humors can be utilized as a cultural strength to improve the management of chronic illness as the patient can be educated on other aspects, discovered by modern medicine that could result in the body being unable to heal itself. This paper makes a conclusion that Filipino Americans also still observe traditional rules about the consumption of certain foods. Medical practitioners can use cultural norms on the best foods to consume when ill to stimulate their patients to play an active role in the process of their own treatment. In the case of terminally ill patients, it would be necessary to make use of the family members as nurses for the ill person. In most Asian American cultures, including the Filipino-American culture, decisions on how a sick member of the family is treated are made by the heads of families after a moment of consultation. Most families are more likely to feel comfortable with their terminally ill patient being looked after in their own homes.