Health beliefs, practice, and priorities for health care of Arab Muslims in the United States.

Full Abstract

The Arab Muslim population is one of the dramatically increasing minorities in the United States. In addition to other factors, religion and cultural background influence individuals' beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes toward health and illness. The author describes health beliefs and practices of the Arab Muslim population in the United States. That population is at an increased risk for several diseases and faces many barriers to accessing the American health care system. Some barriers, such as modesty, gender preference in healthcare providers, and illness causation misconceptions, arise out of their cultural beliefs and practices. Other barriers are related to the complexity of the health care system and the lack of culturally competent services within it. Nurses need to be aware of these religious and cultural factors to provide culturally competent health promotion services for this population. Nurses also need to integrate Islamic teachings into their interventions to provide appropriate care and to motivate healthy behaviors.

Author information

Author/s: Yosef, Abdel Raheem Odeh (AR);

Affiliation: California School of Health Sciences, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Journal of transcultural nursing : official journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society / Transcultural Nursing Society (J Transcult Nurs), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 19 (issue 3) : pp 284-91

Dates: Created 2008/07/28; Completed 2008/10/06;

PMID: 18445762, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.