Different cultures affect people in various ways by influencing their attitudes toward health, medical system, and overall treatment. Consequently, it is essential for medics to understand relations between patients and cultures they belong to in order to be able to communicate and treat patients as good as possible. The most challenging situation may occur when two people come from cultures that are similar on the surface, but are very different inside, and these differences determine people’s beliefs and ideas about health. It may be the case with American and Ukrainian cultures. Although both of these cultures value health greatly, their differences are great enough to influence people in different ways when it comes to health. One can say that American and Ukrainian cultures have different sets of beliefs which affect people’s behavior and attitude toward health institutions, workers, and the overall process of staying healthy, since Ukrainians and Americans have different opinions on clinics, medics, sports and food, superstitions, and folk remedies on medicine. This is a great example of a pre written papers based on the notion of health.
One can say that the main difference between beliefs in both cultures comes from the fact that medical systems in the countries are very different. In America, clinics are mostly private. Americans have to obtain insurances, which take care of people’s financial costs whenever they get sick and have to see a doctor or stay in hospital. Although medical treatment is quite expensive, it is still of a high quality, and one can say that people tend to believe and depend on medics whenever they do not feel well. Ukraine has a different situation. There, clinics are usually state-owned. Thus, the clinics are financed out of people’s taxes, which are relatively low and cannot provide a clinic with all the necessary equipment. That is also the reason why medics working in state-owned clinics have very low salaries. Private clinics are considered better, but they are too expensive for average Ukrainians, especially those living in small towns. In a situation when a person has to go to a state-owned clinic where there is little equipment and doctors are not nice since they get so little money, people usually have a negative attitude toward medical institutions. They tend to think that medics are not curing them, but simply keep in the hospital to get more money out of them. Thus, it is important to keep in mind the suspicions many Ukrainians hold toward clinics and medics, and take care of these ideas by explaining that medics’ main duty is to help people remain healthy. One can see that Americans have rather positive attitudes toward health workers and institutions, which contrast greatly with the beliefs most Ukrainians carry.
Another difference in beliefs comes when analyzing food and sports in relation to health. Nowadays, Americans are changing their attitudes toward healthy eating, since they understand how important food is for one’s health. They also begin to pay more attention to sports. One can say that Americans believe that healthy food and sports are beneficial to health. Still, although they believe so, they do not always implement these beliefs on practice. Ukrainians, on the other hand, have much healthier food, and their lives involve much more movement and sports than the lives of average Americans. Ukrainian cuisine is overall healthy, and the lifestyle which Ukrainians have is the one that involves much movement and physical exercising due to the tasks people perform. As a result, it helps these people stay fit and healthy. One can say that Ukrainians tend to believe that active life is the best path toward a good health, while they ignore actual exercising and dieting. Americans, on the other hand, believe that exercises and sports have to be done separately having no connection to daily work routines. That may be the reason it is more difficult for Americans to stay fit, since they drive all day in a car, while Ukrainians usually walk. They use bicycles or public transport in rare occasions when they have to go further distances.
Superstitions connected to health mark a huge difference between American and Ukrainian beliefs about health and wellness. One can state with confidence that Americans tend to overlook superstitions and do not pay much attention to them, especially when it comes to health. They usually treat superstitions as something that cannot be trusted and trust professionals and facts instead. That is why it is easier for Americans to be treated effectively, since they facilitate the overall treatment process. Ukrainians, on the other hand, are very superstitious when it comes to wellness and illnesses. For example, they may think that they have a headache, because somebody looked at them in a hateful way. They may also blame many of their diseases on the outside forces. It is strange to understand why such superstitions are still so strong in a well-developed European country. Although these superstitions are becoming less strong due to the growth of a new generation, they are still quite popular among the older generation of Ukrainians. Hence, it is important to keep in mind the role of superstitions in the Ukrainian health system as well as try to eliminate them from medical sphere in order to make it as scientific and exact as possible.
One can say that American health system is much more effective due to the beliefs Americans have, since they trust approved methods, while Ukrainian can use folk remedies to take care of themselves. Although folk remedies show connections that Ukrainians have with their traditions, such methods cannot be trusted.
Both Ukrainians and Americans hold very different beliefs about health and wellness. These beliefs affect people’s attitudes and actions when it comes to staying healthy. Nevertheless, both Ukrainians and Americans pay a great importance to wellness and staying healthy. That is why, despite the differences in beliefs, people still value health in a great way and view medics as people helping them to remain healthy.
