Childbearing and the concept of culture

Effective nursing practice requires being free of prejudice and bias. One's outlook is not necessarily the only proper one and there is no room for hasty judgments. The professional has health at the center of her perceptual system and often finds it difficult to view health as laymen do. If she wishes to work effectively with different groups of people, she must overcome her "trained incapacity" and learn to see health and beliefs surrounding it and disease from the patient's standpoint. It would simplify matters if personal and community health could be separated from the complexities of social existence, but this cannot be done. Health practices and ideas penetrate deeply into all domains of life. Nurses would do well to adopt a way of looking at the community that gives some coherence and depth to various cultures. This concept of culture can provide an organizing frame for those details and help the specialist assume the view of the client and family.