Mexican Heritage

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Literature review on Purnell Model for Cultural Competence1

Communication1

Dominant language and dialects1

Format for names1

Bio-cultural ecology2

Skin color and other biological variations2

Diseases and health conditions2

Variations in drug metabolism3

Pregnancy and child bearing practices3

Fertility practices and views toward pregnancy3

Spirituality4

Dominant religion and use of prayer4

Spiritual beliefs and healthcare practices5

Recommendations for Research5

References7

Mexican Heritage

Introduction

The improvement in client outcomes in a multicultural society is dependent on calls for culturally sensitive services. Purnell Model for Cultural Competence is a good application tool for health care providers that increases their understanding of cultures across the world. The model is based on four rings namely global society or world communications and politics, Community, Family and Person. The paper discusses four of the chosen domains of the model and presents them in the context of Mexico.

Literature review on Purnell Model for Cultural Competence

Communication

Dominant language and dialects

The dominant language and dialect in Mexico is Spanish which is also the national language of the country. Other than Spanish there are many other Amerindian languages which are spoken very widely in Mexico. These are more than sixty in number and are spoken in different regions. However, Spanish continues to remain the dominant language as only 6 percent of the population speaks an indigenous language (Relethford & Stern, 2009).

Temporal Relationships

Mexican Americans are not money wise people in that when it comes to money, they think only of the present and save very less for the rainy day. This also means that they are not very punctual and may arrive at dinners and other occasions late. It is something understood that is a ceremony is stated to start at 11 then people will show up after 11:30.

Format for names

As concerns the format of names in Mexico, it has been observed that most Mexicans have Hispanic last names. This practice is also common in other countries where Spanish is widely spoken. Initially, each person had two surname's one of his father and the other of his mother. The father's first surname would come first and the mother's would follow. However, as a means of gender equality, the order of the surnames has been reversed with time. In common language a person is referred to with his first surname orb the paternal surname, and the complete name is reserved to be used only on formal and official documents. Since maiden names are not included in the names, Spanish women do not change their name after marriage.

Bio-cultural ecology

Skin color and other biological variations

When it comes to skin color there is a very wide range of difference among Mexicans. They are black as well as white. If we were to classify Mexicans on the basis of their racial background, the country dynamics reveal that there are whites, mestizo, Indigenous and others whereby there are about 9 percent, 60 percent, 30 percent and 1 percent of each race respectively (Wall, 2007). Mestizo are indigenous but they have European influence on them. The features of Mexicans are also indigenous as well as European. To add to this ...