Cultural Intelligence Essay For Nurse Education Today.

Culture and Cultural Understanding

Discuss about the Cultural Intelligence for Nurse Education Today.

The main purpose of this paper is to support the thesis statement on the analysis of self-cultural awareness and its role in promoting cultural intelligence. The paper will rely on a personal self-inventory assessment to determine the implications of certain activities on the life of people and the role of culture in helping to raise a responsible professional with the ability to work across different cultures. The paper will also share and focus on personal issues and opinions on the importance of culture while supporting the information through the use of secondary data from different literature works written by authors in the field of culture. The paper will also use personal specific examples to show the need to incorporate the three concepts of knowledge, experience and behavior. The paper will be outlined into four major parts which are family, religion, festivals and cultural traditions and their impact towards one’s development of cultural intelligence in life. The paper will also mention the benefits of cultural intelligence and how it improves activities at the work place alongside formulating a solution around the life of a person and the focus of different interests in life. A summary of the ideas will also be provided in the conclusion.

Culture and cultural understanding is a critical tool in a person’s life. Every individual belongs to a specific culture that outlines their personal beliefs, conduct and way of life. Culture mainly depends on a person’s ethnicity and origin (Rosseter, 2014). Culture includes family values that are passed down to generations to outline the conduct of people and relations. Cultural self-awareness refers to the aspect of understanding culture at a personal level. The act involves understanding specific cultural values, beliefs and perceptions among people and the actions that govern people (Mills & Fitzgerald, 2008). Self-cultural awareness enables one to communicate and interact with others while keeping in mind key personal attributes that one should adhere to in life. Cultural intelligence, on the other hand is the concept of leveraging capabilities, traits and personal attributes to work and interact with people from different places at the work place. My life as a child was often characterized by loneliness and being independent. I hardly socialized and kept to myself most of the time. However, after learning my culture, religion and other concepts in life I became friends with people and ended up living a happy life.One has to understand the ideas that conduct people and the issues related to personnel management in a cultural perspective. Cultural intelligence involves finding a balance to interact with people across different cultures. Cultural intelligence does not mean that one will follow the beliefs of others but rather one will learn on ways on how to understand and respect the values of others and their cultural perception in the course of work and interactions.

Family, Religion, Festivals, and Cultural Traditions

Religion, family, festivals and cultural traditions are aspect that help a person to be cultural aware and responsible about specific issues in the community. The culture of a person incorporates the concepts of religion which involve the beliefs and how one has been brought up with regards to the specific religion. Family is also an integral aspect that relates to key issues like the model of the family, the people who raised you and the blood relations you have with people. Family is important in culture because it outlines the practices that a person partakes in and the significance of certain activities. The issue of culture and religion remained long to be a challenge that I faced at a personal level. However, having been an avid supporter of islamophobia I got to meet Muslims who became friends and taught me that their religious practices draw them to Allah rather than make them become radicalized individuals that preach hate. I learnt therefore the relevance of their culture.Festivals and cultural traditions and critical markers that outline the beliefs in the life of a person. The activities in the life of a person are shaped through the attendance of festivals and events on cultural awareness. A person therefore can learn on ways on how to accommodate the culture of other people in their lives. Through experience, knowledge and behavior a person ends up learning the critical factors that determine their life and issues around them (Denny et al., 2016). Understanding oneself is the major guideline that helps to enhance cultural awareness in the life of a person. Through the study of culture and family one learns the values to uphold as critical and the values that one is not to give keen consideration about.

Cultural intelligence is developed through understanding the components that make up culture. Culture is developed through the learning of key components that make up the culture of a person. I have learnt an acquired values of cultural intelligence through embracing the diversities of a cosmopolitan society which allows me to associate and mingle with people freely in the society. This enables me to have many friends. The culture of a person consists of his or her beliefs on family, religion, festivals and traditions. Through learning the four concepts one can learn to respect them and value the fact that different persons share different beliefs on the topic. When working one has to ensure that the respect prevails in the life of person. Through the understanding one can learn on why it is wrong to impose personal beliefs on others and the need to uphold the values that people share. People can learn on how to schedule work so as to as to avoid interfering with the schedule of other people and therefore lead a happy life (Handerson et al., 2011; Hunt et al., 2012)). People also learn on the need to respect the relations of others and knowing that different families have different structures and relate differently.

Enhancing Cross-Cultural Intelligence

Cultural awareness helps to enhance cross-cultural intelligence. Cultural awareness helps a person to learn on the need to respect religious values of others and understand the availability of different families and religions in the world. For instance, a time while living in a mixed neighborhood I always thought of my African neighbors as weird people because they listed to African songs which I assumed were weird. After learning the songs, I became more understanding and liked the music as well. This is an illustration of how cultural awareness bridges boundaries.People share different beliefs and attributes depending on their origin and how they were raised. Understanding the concept can help a person to figure out ways through which they can seek to learn new cultures. Religion is a huge part of culture that outlines different activities around people and the conduct of culture (Davies et al., 2014; Miner, 2015). People can learn to be responsible to study and understand culture and its values among people. The existence of different religions shows that people are governed by various varied traits in life which dictate the values that they are raised to believe. One can learn new beliefs and traits of religion and incorporate them in work. The family life religion is separated on different values such as who the head of the family is and the hierarchical composition of the family (McCarthy& Evans 2003). In the administration of duty, a person should ensure that they do not violate protocol and instead learn to accommodate different family structures at work. This can help enhance cultural relations.

To conclude, the ideas presented in the paper indicate the importance of cultural self-awareness and its role in gaining cultural intelligence in the life of a person. Cultural intelligence as explained in the paper appears to emerge as a result of personal cultural understanding. Through understanding the key factors of cultural intelligence one learns on the need to respect the culture of others and the concept of following instructions in the life of a person. The personal understanding of the importance of culture helps a person to be aware on the variations that exist among people and why one should not seek to change the beliefs of a person about life, religion and other related factors. A culturally aware person can therefore help in formulating a better relationship that will ensure a happy relationship among colleagues and people from different parts of the world. The study of culture is therefore important and necessary for a person to enforce in life.

References

Davis, L., Taylor, H., & Reyes, H. (2014). Lifelong learning in nursing: A Delphi study. Nurse Education Today, 34(3), 441-445.

Denny, E., Earle, S., &Hewison, A. (2016). Sociology for nurses. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Henderson, A., Briggs, J., Schoonbeek, S., & Paterson, K. (2011). A framework to develop a clinical learning culture in health facilities: ideas from the literature. International Nursing Review, 58(2), 196-202.

Hunt, L. A., McGee, P., Gutteridge, R., & Hughes, M. (2012). Assessment of student nurses in practice: A comparison of theoretical and practical assessment results in England. Nurse Education Today, 32(4), 351-5

McCarthy, A., & Evans, D. (2003). A study on the impact of continuing education for nurses and midwives who completed post registration courses. Nursing and Midwifery Planning Development Unit, Western Health Board, Ireland. Retrieved on March 16, 2017 from

Mills, J., & Fitzgerald, M. (2008). The changing role of practice nurses in Australia: an action research study. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26(1), 16-20

Miner, John B. 2015. Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge.

Rosseter, R. J. (2014). The impact of education on nursing practice. American Association of Colleges of Nursing Fact Sheet, 202, 463-6930

Sharif, F., &Masoumi, S. (2005). A qualitative study of nursing student experiences of clinical practice. BMC nursing, 4(6).

Wey-Wen, J., Wei, C., & Yu-Chih, C. (2004). Important Computer Competencies for the Nursing Profession. Journal of Nursing Research (Taiwan Nurses Association), 12(3), 213-225.