Cultural assessment (Indian culture)

Cultural Assessment (Indian Culture). Cultures have been in existence since the ancient times and have been passed on from one generation to another to ensure its continuity. They define the manner in which individuals in a certain community interact and live like determining the mode of dressing, type of food, the worshipping ways, the art and many more things. The assessment of the various cultures presents in the world aids in having a comprehensive understanding of them. The Indian culture, for instance, collectively incorporates the multiplicity of diverse and exceptional cultures of all faiths and societies found in India. It has elements such as the Indian cuisine, religious conviction, and philosophy that have greatly affected the world. The Indian culture assessment involves looking at the various transcultural practices like language, religion and the practices, end-of-life practices and dietary preferences. Additionally, it also evaluates the health care behaviors such as the nontraditional therapies, the challenges and the outcomes that arise from the health care behaviors. An evidence-based will be generated that involves Information Technology (IT) systems on the various ways to improve the healthcare outcomes and access to medical care.
Indian Culture
Various cultures have different ways of communicating as well as the languages. The Indian culture is majorly comprised of two main languages, English and Hindi that are extensively utilized. Nevertheless, it also has roughly 21 more languages that are documented in the Indian Constitution.

Popular languages comprise of Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu. English is vocalized extensively in the teaching, administration and business settings because of the British Colonial influence. In most parts of India, the North and central regions, Hindi work as the “de facto lingua franca,” nonetheless in other southern parts, opposition to the preferment of Hindi as a state language has been experienced as they feel that it deteriorates the significance of their local dialects. English, therefore, is mostly used in the southern region of India. As with most main world dialects, Hindi has several local and county languages that are communally comprehensible. “Modern Standard Hindi” is the authorized alternative that is widely utilized in government and all over the business world. It can also be translated into the Latin writing such that it can be spoken, read and pronounced by persons with no understanding of the Devanagari writing. The Indian culture utilizes various languages to communicate in the different religions found in India.
Religion in the Indian culture is the basis for most parts of life for persons, families, and community. India is the origin of Buddhism, and at a certain time, the majority of Indians used to be Buddhists, but in current times, there is roughly around 1% Buddhists, 2% of Christians and Sikhs of the total Indian populace. Indian Muslims worship Allah and have the Quran as their sacred text. Hinduism, like most of their deities, has several faces dependent on class and location. Shrines in one area may vary completely from those in other regions, and though many have the Vedas as their holy texts and dharma as an ethical code. Festivals occur all over the nation annually with some of the main parties partying and honoring Hindu deities. “Diwali, the Festival of Lights,” happens mostly in October and worshippers light lamps and host huge family and society merriments to honor the idol of wealth, Lakshmi. Other festivals include the Vasantpanchami, a spiritual festival for the deity of learning and Holi a celebration for all regardless of their social level. Other rituals are performed in the occurrence of death to honor the departed.
The Indian culture undertakes various practices about death. They believe that life and death are forms of rebirth also known as Samsara. Reincarnation in an endless circle of dying and renaissance is communal, as is the faith in karma that is founded greatly good and bad things one did when they were alive. If death occurs, the involved parties are refrained from touching the body as it is considered impure. The funeral preparations are conducted immediately to ensure the burial takes place at either dusk or dawn of the next day. Hindus practice organ donation and mummifying. The body is prepared through washing and dressing it for the burial by family members. During the holy bath, the persons involved narrate mantras. The toes are tied together and hands positioned in a prayer position and body covered with a white sheet. A wake is held before cremation of the body for family members and friends to view it. After cremation, the members involved are required to shower and change into fresh attires. The ashes are collected from the crematory and poured into the Ganges River. The people are permitted to consume some foods after the burial ceremony.
The traditional Indian food has been globally cherished for its remarkable utilization of herbs and flavors. Indian cuisine is recognized for its large collection of dishes. The culinary style differs from county to county and is greatly categorized into “South & North Indian food.” India is relatively popular for its assorted multi-cuisine accessible in a great number of hotel resorts that is suggestive of unity in variety. The main food in India comprises wheat and rice. In contemporary times, Indian palate has experienced a lot of modification. Due to globalization, several Indians have journeyed to different areas of the world, which has led to in Indianisation of numerous international foods. Examples of the Indian cuisine includes the Bengali cuisine that is cherished for its usage of panchphoron, a word used to denote the five important spices, specifically aniseed, black cumin, cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds and the traditional Gujarati diet that is chiefly vegetarian. Additionally, the Mughlai cuisine comprises of the dishes made in the “royal Mughal Emperors” kitchens and the Punjab cuisine that has a vast diversity of mouth-watering vegan as well as non-vegetarian saucers. The cuisine of South India is known for its light, low-calorie appetizing dishes. The traditional food of South India is mainly rice based and has a very high nutritional value that encourages good health (Green et al. 144).
Healthcare Behaviors
Healthcare in India is an area that is greatly observed by the government to monitor the welfare of its citizens. The Indians are prone to various health issues like STIs (sexually transmitted infections) like HIV, homelessness, unplanned pregnancies and many others. STIs are brought about by risky behaviors such as multiple cohorts having unprotected intercourse, many sex workers, sharing of sharp objects like needles among others. There has been massive use of drugs, for instance, the usage of ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs) to curb and minimize the effects of HIV in India and use of insulin to treat diabetic patients. There are various Indian practices utilized to curb these disorders such as the adoption of fitness methods, undertaking preventative measure like the use of condoms, reduction of tobacco and alcohol use.
Use of Telemedicine
A system of telemedicine amenities like Sanjeevani application, mother and child tracking system of daily voicemails to pregnant females and new mommies, web-based TB recording scheme known as Nikshay, and developing a mobile application for the teaching of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) employees needs to be developed to improve healthcare. Furthermore, low-smoke stoves can diminish indoor contamination and respiratory ailments and the usage of point-of-care analytic techniques. For instance, the use of DTMS (Diabetes Tele Management System) in India aids in the treatment and monitoring of diabetic patients. DTMS incorporates a variety of professionals like diabetes instructors, psychologists, dieticians and doctors involved in the treatment of diabetes. The aforementioned specialists utilize customized software that measures the quantities of medications and offer guidance on lifestyle and foods (Kesavadev et al. 764). The system aids in the management and monitoring of patients’ blood sugar levels, blood pressure and measures the doses in accordance with their characteristics. According to a study led by Marcolino et al. (11) on diabetic patients showed that the usage of telemedicine reduced the HbA1c (hemoglobin A1c) in comparison with normal care. Additionally, patients that used DTMS have lower instances of hypoglycemia compared to those that underwent normal care. Teleconsultations offer patient awareness and better doctor-patient relations that improve the treatment and welfare of persons with diabetes.
However, the use of DTMS experiences various challenges ranging from communication errors when the doctor is unreachable on phone to answer to the patient’s questions, inability of individuals to pay teleconsultations charges, resistance to the adoption of new technologies as they mostly believe in traditional herbs for treatment and wrong prescriptions due to lack of multiple checks by the physicians.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the Indian culture is comprised of varying languages, cuisines, death, healthcare and religious practices from other cultures. The communal languages in the Indian cultures include Hindu, English, and others like Bengali, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi, and Telugu. It is also comprised of various religions like Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs who worship deities and have sacred books like Quran and Vedas. They celebrate annual festivals to honor their different gods. They also have different types of foods like the Punjab, Bengali, Mughlai and Gujarati cuisines. The Indian culture involves various risk behaviors that contribute to healthcare challenges and outcomes. The indulgence in unprotected sex with multiple partners causes HIV that may lead to high mortality rates. Various ways can improve the provision of medical care by use of modern technological developments like the use of DTMS in the treatment of diabetic patients, mobile phone applications and mother-child tracing systems.
Works Cited
Green, Rosemary, et al. “Dietary patterns in India: a systematic review.” British Journal of Nutrition, 116.1 (2016): 142-148.
Kesavadev, Jothydev, et al. “Telemedicine for diabetes care: An Indian perspective-feasibility and efficacy.” Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism 19.6 (2015):764.
Marcolino, Milena Soriano, et al. “Telemedicine application in the care of diabetes patients: systematic review and meta-analysis.” PLoS One, 8.11 (2013):e79246