Cultural Competency In India

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For my cultural competency project I had India (Hindu). I found my research interesting because it was similar to what the majority of us believe in, but there was a few things that were a switch up. After my research when I hear the word “Hindu” I now instantly think Rama. Rama was named after the greatest saint of Hinduism, Ramakrishna. The most popular forms of worship in India today are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Braham is believed to be the creator, Vishnu to be the preserver and god of love, and Shiva to be the destroyer. “Religion is not something to be picked up and put down according to a schedule or one’s mood. It is a constant and all-pervading part of his life, every value and action, and the life of his country.” (Murray, Zentner…show more content…
When it comes to the India/Hindu culture there are a few big things we should know about their style of communication. For the non-verbal’s the simplest thing is keeping an arm’s length away is the appropriate distance to keep between you and whom you are speaking with. While maintaining this distance most Indian’s make direct eye contact throughout the entire conversation, however we need to be aware that if have an encounter with a woman who is from a conservative, rural, or traditional background they will speak to us from behind their veil. Outside of these traditions some communication traits that may hinder our therapy is in the Indian culture it is unacceptable to touch them during a conversation and they are not to be pointed at. Some ways we could adjust to make therapy just as effective without these simple motions would be learn their style of pointing. While researching I found that their form of pointing is to make direct eye contact and then stick your right arm with your palm down and pull your fingers towards you. When it comes to not touching them, take for example you are trying to show them how to do an exercise; simply give written, verbal or visual (on yourself) instructions. For the verbal communication, some good topics that might help a conversation get going or get them oriented and feel comfortable with you would include; family, food, educational background, cricket, soccer or field hockey. However, when it comes to the food we need to be aware rather our patient is a vegetarian or not because most of the Indian culture does not eat meat, so we do not want to go barging in talking about this great cookout we just had over the weekend and offend
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