promote behavior change is access to quality car
The first measure that needs to be taken to promote behavior change is access to quality care. When I refer to access to care, I am referring to a patients’ ability to access any level of healthcare without suffering from a financial hardship. Additionally, a patient should receive the same quality of care at any level; regardless of their sex, race, culture and regardless if they are insured, under or un-insured. This all ties back to the need for healthcare standardization across the globe.
By no means am I trying to compare myself to many across our own country and globe who do not have access to quality healthcare. With that said, I grew up in a household where both parents were self-employed with the bare minimum insurance coverage. After receiving my childhood/adolescent immunizations I did not see a primary care physician until a few years ago when my employer required yearly physicals to receive premiums on health insurance. I bet many others grew up in a similar situation, leading us to believe that doctors were for “emergencies only”. Luckily, I am healthy, now get annual checkups and take all preventative recommendations. However, I can’t help but think how many people avoid primary care visits that end up with illnesses/diseases that could have been avoided by simply going for check-ups. This is just a basic example of how previous or current accessibility to healthcare can impact behavior.
Two other very influential measures that impact behavior change for better health, and relate to my first point, are education and culture. The YouTube video from this week’s resources, “Cultural Differences”, discusses how culture and education play a role in people’s understanding of healthcare and physicians’ ability to communicate and understand their patients perspectives. One’s education and cultural background can not only impact their opinion and skepticism surrounding healthcare but can impact healthy habits such as diet, exercise, and hygiene.
I found the first video below, “Culture & Healthcare” very relevant and impactful on the key measures of education and culture. It refers to how we cannot just “treat others how you’d like to be treated” but treat others as they’d like to be treated. I found that message very powerful because it ties into our lack of cultural knowledge and respect. In this example, the physician diagnosed the patient with cancer, shared the news and the family was completely distraught because in their culture, that diagnosis would change the patients will to live. I think that as a society we need to make a greater effort to not only embrace and respect others’ cultural backgrounds but put an emphasis on education so that situations can be handled differently to promote more positive and healthy behaviors.
References:
The Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA). (2014, Sep 5). Culture and healthcare: When Medicine and culture intersect [Video] YoutTube.
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