Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model: Introduction
Karabudak, Tas, and Basbakkal (2013) argue that “the Transcultural Assessment Model of Giger and Davidzar is a powerful tool that can help health professionals assess the cultural values of patients about disease behaviors and their implications” (p. 343). The model was developed by Joyce Newman Giger and Ruth Elaine Davidhizar in 1988 (Eggenberger, Grassley, & Restrepo, 2006).
The purpose of the model was to ensure more practitioners provided culturally-competent care to patients from diverse backgrounds. The six major cultural phenomena outlined by the model include “space, environmental control, social organization, communication, time, and biological variations (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002, p. 186). These aspects have been widely used by health professionals to offer culturally-sensitive medical support to their clients.
Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model: Application
This model has the potential to support my health and career objectives. Societies, healthcare environments, and communities are characterized by people from diverse backgrounds. This diversity in culture might pose a major challenge to practitioners and caregivers. Medical practitioners also possess diverse cultural, religious, and racial views (Karabudak et al., 2013). A positive approach to diversity makes it easier for practitioners to support the health needs of their clients from diverse backgrounds.
Practitioners who are aware of their patients’ cultural attributes will form appropriate multidisciplinary teams to deliver quality support. The transcultural model empowers medical practitioners to provide competent and evidence-based care to individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. The approach fosters communication and collaboration in an attempt to deliver beneficial care to more patients. This model therefore guides caregivers to monitor the needs of specific individuals.
Nurses should view their patients as unique entities (Eggenberger et al., 2006). The next step is to consider “the six cultural dimensions that define a human being” (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002, p. 187). The caregivers will be able to identify the major health issues and behaviors associated with every targeted patient. This approach will eventually guide more practitioners to deliver evidence-based care to their clients.
Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model: Clinical Scenario
Giger and Davidzar’s Transcultural Assessment Model has been a useful tool for me. There is a time I was providing medical care to a patient from a different religious background. My patient has been diagnosed with heart disease. However, the patient argued that a person from a different religious background was not supposed to support her health needs (Jeffreys, 2008). She also wanted her freedom to be respected. Sometimes she failed to communicate with most of the caregivers. I decided to use the Transcultural Assessment Model of Giger and Davidzar to support the health needs of my patient.
The first important thing was to appreciate the patient’s cultural attributes and beliefs. I viewed her as a unique entity. I believed that she required culturally-competent care. Issues such as space and communication were taken seriously throughout the process. A multidisciplinary team characterized by family members, fellow caregivers, and friends were involved in order to produce positive results. Issues such as prevalence of heart disease in the family were also considered (Eggenberger et al., 2006). Environmental control was also embraced in order to promote the most desirable disease-management practices.
Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model: Conclusion
This discussion shows clearly that health workers must possess desirable cultural-competence skills. The ideas presented in the Giger-Davidhizar Transcultural Model can help more practitioners understand the cultural heritages, behaviors, social aspects, and beliefs of their patients (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002). This model will therefore make it easier for me to support the ever-changing health needs of more clients.
Reference List
Eggenberger, S., Grassley, J., & Restrepo, E. (2006). Culturally Competent Nursing Care for Families: Listening to the Voices of Mexican-American Women. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 11(3), 1-23.
Giger, J., & Davidhizar, R. (2002). The Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 13(3), 185-188.
Jeffreys, M. (2008). Dynamics of Diversity: Becoming Better Nurses through Diversity Awareness. NSNA Imprint, 1(1), 37-41.
Karabudak, S., Tas, F., & Basbakkal, Z. (2013). Giger and Davidhizar’s Transcultural Assessment Model: A Case Study in Turkey. Health Science Journal, 7(3), 342-345.