Part 1: For this assignment, conduct a cultural self-assessment using the Staircase Self-Assessment Model and write a 1250–1500-word reflection essay.
You must first understand your own culture and beliefs in order to understand culture and cultural diversity. Write a 1250 to 1500-word essay outlining the six stages of cultural competency using the Staircase Self-Assessment Model: cultural destructiveness, cultural incapacity, cultural blindness, pre-competency, basic cultural competency, and advance cultural competency.
Answer the following questions to determine your level on the stairwell.
Please keep in mind that your responses will not be graded; only your understanding of the Staircase Self-Assessment Model will be assessed
Step 1:
How much do I value becoming culturally competent?
What actions have I taken recently or in the past when caring for culturally diverse patients that demonstrate my motivation?
Step 2:
How much do I know about my cultural heritage or racial identity and its relationship to my own healthcare beliefs and practices?
Have I discussed these issues with my parents, grandparents, or other relatives?
Step 3:
How much do I know about cultural groups that differ from my own?
Step 4:
How culturally diverse is my social network?
How many encounters with cultural group members outside my social network do I have? Are these relationships superficial, or do I have social contact beyond the workplace?
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Step 5:
Am I able to independently identify the potential or actual problems that originate from cultural conflicts, or am I surprised by them?
Do I serve as a culturally competent role model/mentor for others?
Step 6:
Have I developed problem-solving strategies to manage cultural conflicts?
Am I able to manage or resolve cultural problems or issues that arise, and what resources do I use?
Once you have completed the self-assessment, address the following questions:
Why are self-knowledge and understanding a critical step in achieving cultural competence?
How has the “cultural self-assessment” exercise influenced your awareness of personal and professional values, attitudes, and practices, including prejudices and biases?
How will your interactions with patients and families change as a result of this self-reflection?
Remember, you answer these questions from your perspective, so there is no right or wrong response. You must address each question. Although the information on your self-assessment paper is strictly confidential, if you do not wish to self-disclose a specific area from the Staircase, indicate that by explaining in detail why you do not want to disclose. Attention should be paid to grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Assignment Expectations
Length: 1250–1500 words; answers must thoroughly address the questions clearly and concisely.
Structure: Include a Title page in APA style. These do not count towards the minimum word count for this assignment.
References: n/a
Format: Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx).
Cultural Self-Assessment Free Essay Example
Introduction
No two people are the same. Race, ethnicity, gender, and age are all factors that make individuals different and unique. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing my values, beliefs and traditions, how I identify myself, and my attitude on diversity.
Family Values, Beliefs, and Traditions
My family is very diverse and comes from many different places. My maternal grandmother came to the United States from England when she was 18 and met my biological grandfather. They lived in Montana on Flathead Indian Reservation.
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This is where my mother was born and raised. When my mother was in high school, she met my father who was a senior when she was a freshman. My father’s distant relatives came to the US from Ireland and started their family in Montana. Both of my parents have a little bit of German in them as well as Norwegian, but the majority of my heritage is Irish and Native American. My parents had my older brother and me when they were very young and they struggled to grow up while having small children.
Eventually, they got divorced and moved apart from each other.
When I was 2 years old, my mother met and married my stepfather and we all moved to North Dakota. In this time I travelled back and forth between my mother in North Dakota and my father in Montana. I spent my school years in North Dakota and my summers and Christmas in Montana with my dad. This was hard on me when I was young because I had no sense of what home was.
My mother and stepfather moved to Bismarck, North Dakota after having my little brother and remained there until I left for college. When I was a freshman at UND they got divorced. They were married for 17 years but decided it was the right decision to have separate lives. This was hard for me because my stepfather felt like he was not my father anymore, even though he was the one that raised me.
Because my family has been split up numerous times, it has been hard for me to define who my family is. Because my stepfather raised me since I was 2 years old, I consider him to be a big part of my family. My family was very spread out and separated which meant that my immediate family was the people I considered to be my family. This included my mom, dad, stepdad, grandma, and two brothers. My maternal grandma was on her own after my grandpa left and she lived with us for a couple years.
When I was growing up, my stepfather was the biggest decision maker. My mom was a stay at home mom and raised the kids while my dad worked. When it came to finances and discipline, my stepfather was in charge. As kids, we all knew my mother was the one that was easier on us kids and my stepfather was the one to be tough. When it came to looking for guidance, I would immediately go to my mother. She was not only my mother, but she’s my best friend. I could talk to her about anything.
When I was little, my maternal grandfather would tell us stories of his Indian tribe. He came from the Assiniboine Indian tribe and his great grandfather was the chief of the tribe at one point. The stories of our native ancestors always interested me. He would take us to burial sites in the mountains and tell us urban legends. This became a type of ritual for us to do. Traditions were important for us because our family is so small. Every chance we have to get together is important. Because my grandfather left when I was little, this tradition stopped.
Personal Identity and Values
When it comes to being addressed by strangers, I like to be called by my first name. As I get older, this may change and I would be called Mrs or Ms. I think that it is more proper to be called Mrs or Ms in professional settings and as I get older.
For gender roles, my view is pretty old fashioned. Growing up, it was always clear with my family that the women stay home and take care of the kids, while the dad works and supports the family financially. My parent’s views are the same, which is why my mother stayed at home and raised the kids. I know it is becoming mutual where the mother works just like the father, but I think; as I get older I will practice the same views and beliefs my parents did. This does not mean that I am against the views of feminism; I just believe it is important for children to be raised by family instead of daycare centers. My mother never trusted people to babysit her kids when we were little and her views have rubbed off on me.
I define myself as being independent, self-relying, and strong. I have gone through many hard things in my life and I think it has made me to be a strong person. What makes me unique is my independence. Ever since I was in high school, I have taken care of myself and always felt the need to do everything on my own. Because of this, I have always come off a little rough around the edges. I had trouble making friends because I did not trust many people and always thought people had alternative motives.
Eventually I have learned to give people the benefit of the doubt and to trust others. I consider myself to me a female, daughter, college student, Catholic, friend, sister, and a future nurse. From the list of identities above, I think being a student and a friend to be the most important in my life at this time. Every day I go to school and work hard to achieve my goal of being a nurse. Along with going to class, I spend a lot of time with my friends.
Being a nursing student is very important to me at this time and I am proud to be at UND. The UND nursing program is very competitive and I am proud to have gotten in. No one in my family works in the medical field and my parents are very proud of my accomplishments. I do not think I am sad or embarrassed about any of my cultural descriptors. I think the person I have become and the things I have accomplished have been exactly what I planned for.
Diversity Attitudes
Diversity to me means that every person is different and has his or her own story. Being diverse means to be unique and have qualities that are different from everyone else. Diversity does not just include race and ethnicity, but I think it also includes their background, education, and interests.
My earliest experience of becoming racially aware was in middle school. For my first 6 years in elementary school, there was no diversity in the students. My elementary school was very small in a remote area. When I got to middle school there were a couple African Americans and Native Americans. It was new to me, but it was never a problem. I had spent my summers on the reservation, but I had never spent much time with other kids my age. We live on a lake and the only people around were my family. My parents taught me to never judge a person by what is on the outside. I think North Dakota as a whole is not very culturally diverse and I had no experience outside of my family and the people I went to school with. This negatively affected behavior towards other ethnic groups because of how sheltered I was when I was younger.
After spending a lot of my time on an Indian reservation, I have felt uncomfortable in a few situations. Alcoholism is a big problem on the reservation that I lived on and my parents always made sure I never went anywhere alone. I think this experience has left me with a bias against this ethnic minority group. Alcoholism in Native Americans is not only prevalent on my reservation, but across many reservations in the Midwest. This stereotype has affected me as a adolescent, but as an adult studying to become a nurse it has taught me to not be judgmental.
The way people look on the outside should not be a determinant on how they should be treated. I could increase my understanding of a person of diversity by surrounding myself with a variety of people. This will make me more aware of the beliefs of other cultures. Being aware can help me as a nurse to As a nurse, I will always put bias aside and treat my patients with the care they need. I will also be respectful of different ethnicities and religions while caring for patients.
Conclusion
Overall, I think culture is something that brings people together. It not only makes people unique in their own way, but it makes them feel like they belong to something. I know that being surrounded by people that believe the same things I do is comforting. On the contrary, being around people that are different allows us to become aware of cultural diversity.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Introduction
Nobody is identical to another.
Individuals are differentiated and unique by their race, ethnic origin, gender, and age.
I will describe my values, beliefs, and traditions throughout this article, as well as how I identify myself and my stance toward diversity.
Values, Beliefs, and Traditions in the Family
My family is really diversified and originates from a variety of various countries.
When my maternal grandmother was 18, she immigrated to the United States from England and met my biological grandfather.
They lived on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.
Utilize non-plagiarized sources.
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This is the location of my mother’s birth and upbringing.
My mother met my father in high school, when he was a senior and she was a freshman.
My father’s distant relatives immigrated to the United States from Ireland and settled in Montana.
Both of my parents have a little of German and Norwegian in them, but the majority of my ancestors were Irish and Native Americans.
My parents had me and my older brother while they were very young, and they battled to mature while caring for little children.
They eventually divorced and separated.
My mother met and married my stepfather when I was two years old, and we all moved to North Dakota.
I spent this period traveling between my mother’s home in North Dakota and my father’s home in Montana.
My school years were spent in North Dakota, while my summers and Christmases were spent in Montana with my father.
This was difficult for me as a child because I had no concept of what home was.
My mother and stepfather relocated to Bismarck, North Dakota following the birth of my younger brother and there until I departed for college.
They divorced when I was a freshman at UND.
They were married for 17 years but decided to live separate lives.
This was difficult for me since my stepfather felt as if he was no longer my father, despite the fact that he was the one who reared me.
Due to my family’s frequent splits, it’s been difficult for me to determine who my family is.
Due to the fact that my stepfather has raised me since I was two years old, I consider him a significant part of my family.
My family was extremely dispersed and isolated, which meant that the people I perceived to be my family were those closest to me.
This group included my mother, father, stepfather, grandmother, and two brothers.
My maternal grandmother was left to fend for herself after my grandfather died, and she stayed with us for a few years.
My stepfather was the primary decision maker when I was a child.
My mother was a stay-at-home parent who raised the children while my father worked.
My stepfather was in charge of finances and discipline.
As children, we were all aware that my mother was the softer one and that my stepfather was the tough one.
When I needed guidance, I instantly went to my mother.
Not only was she my mother, but she is also my dearest friend.
I could discuss anything with her.
My maternal grandpa used to tell us stories about his Indian clan when I was a child.
He was an Assiniboine Indian, and his great grandpa served as the tribe’s chief at one point.
The stories of our indigenous forefathers and mothers have long piqued my curiosity.
He would take us to mountain burial sites and tell us urban stories.
This developed into a sort of ritual for us.
Because our family is so small, traditions were really important to us.
Every opportunity we have to get together is critical.
This tradition came to an end when my grandfather died while I was a child.
Individuality and Values
When strangers address me, I like to be addressed by my first name.
Become I age, this may alter and I will be referred to as Mrs or Ms.
Mrs or Ms, I believe, is more appropriate in professional situations and as I age.
In terms of gender roles, my perspective is quite traditional.
As a child, it was always evident in my household that the women stay at home and care for the children, while the father works and financially supports the family.
My parents share the same beliefs, which is why my mother chose to stay at home and raise the children.
I am aware that it is becoming more mutual where the mother works alongside the father, but I believe that as I grow older, I will adopt the same values and opinions as my parents.
This is not to say that I am opposed to feminism; rather, I feel it is critical for children to be raised by their families rather than in childcare centers.
When my siblings and I were small, my mother never trusted anyone to babysit us, and her attitudes have rubbed off on me.
I define myself as self-sufficient, reliant, and strong.
I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I believe it’s helped me become a stronger person.
What distinguishes me is my independence.
I’ve always taken care of myself and felt the need to accomplish everything on my own since I was in high school.
As a result, I’ve always come across as a little rough around the edges.
I had difficulty forming acquaintances since I lacked confidence in many individuals and often suspected others of ulterior motivations.
Eventually, I learnt to trust others and to give people the benefit of the doubt.
To me, I am a girl, a daughter, a college student, a devout Catholic, a friend, a sister, and a future nurse.
From the list above, I believe the most essential identities in my life at the moment are those of a student and a buddy.
Each day, I attend school and work diligently toward my goal of becoming a nurse.
Along with attending classes, I spend a significant amount of time with my friends.
Being a nursing student is critical for me at the moment, and I am proud to be a student at UND.
The nursing program at UND is extremely competitive, and I am happy to have been accepted.
My family has no medical professionals, and my parents are extremely proud of my accomplishments.
I believe I am neither saddened nor ashamed by any of my cultural labels.
I believe that the person I have become and the accomplishments I have made have been precisely what I intended.
Attitudes of Diverse
To me, diversity means that each individual is unique and has their own story.
Being diverse entails being unique and possessing characteristics that set you apart from others.
Diversity, I believe, encompasses more than race and ethnic origin; it also encompasses one’s background, education, and interests.
My first encounter with racial awareness was in middle school.
There was no diversity among the students during my first six years of primary school.
My elementary school was quite modest and located in a rural region.
When I entered middle school, there were a few African Americans and Native Americans among the students.
It was unfamiliar territory for me, yet it was never a problem.
My summers had been spent on the reserve, but I had never spent much time with other children my age.
We reside on the shores of a lake, and the only people in the area were my family.
My parents taught me never to judge a person just on the basis of their appearance.
I believe that North Dakota as a whole is culturally homogeneous, and I had little experience outside of my family and the folks I attended school with.
Because I was so protected as a child, this had a negative effect on my behavior toward other ethnic groups.
After spending the majority of my time on an Indian reserve, I’ve encountered a few awkward circumstances.
Alcoholism is a significant issue on the tribe where I grew up, and my parents made certain I never went anywhere alone.
This event, I believe, has left me with a prejudice against this ethnic minority group.
Alcoholism is common among Native Americans not just on my reservation, but on many others throughout the Midwest.
As a kid, this stereotype affected me, but as an adult learning to become a nurse, it has taught me to be nonjudgmental.
The way people appear on the outside should not dictate how they are treated.
By surrounding myself with a diverse group of people, I can improve my understanding of a person of diversity.
This will increase my awareness of different civilizations’ beliefs.
Being cognizant enables me, as a nurse, to
As a nurse, I will always put my bias aside and provide the care my patients require.
Additionally, I shall be sensitive of patients’ ethnic and religious backgrounds while caring for them.
Conclusion
In general, I believe that culture unites individuals.
It not only distinguishes individuals in their own right, but also gives them a sense of belonging.
I’m aware that being around by folks who share my beliefs is reassuring.
On the contrary, being surrounded by people who are different teaches us about cultural diversity.
