Andrea Montoya
California State University, Dominguez Hills School of Nursing
Community Based Nursing II
BSN 420
Tim Yett RN, MSN, PHN
January 25, 2013
Theme 1 – Cultural Implications Past & Present/ Wellness and Prevention One of minority groups in the United States that traditionally uses self medication and self care for any kind of sickness is Cambodian Americans. In their native Cambodia, people usually seek spiritual guidance and healing through their traditional healer, also known as Khru Khmer (Huong & Heng, 2008). The many reasons for this way of seeking health solutions include access to cheap over-the-counter drugs, having few hospitals and physicians, high cost of Westernized medical care, and belief in the presence of spirits that can cause illness and disease. According to Huong and Heng (2008), newly arrived immigrants from Cambodia brings in this kind of mind set, thus seeks traditional healers more than their settled in counterparts. In a study conducted by Wong et al. (2011), it was found that Cambodian Americans were more likely than other older adults in California to have characteristics that put them at risk for physical health status as almost 90% endorsed poor health status while 70% met the criteria for possible disability. It was also found that a number of Cambodian Americans are still having a hard time assimilating with the mainstream culture despite numerous governmental programs offered to them. Reasons include language barrier, experiences in civil war such as material shortage, challenges experienced in refugee camps prior to arrival in the U.S., starvation, physical injury, infection, and numerous psychologically- traumatizing life events that may have permanent physical health consequences (Wong et al., 2011). It can be deduced that because of these factors, the living and working conditions among this culture is less than optimal as well, as evidenced by average income of $27,296 per year in 2010 (Koch-Weser, Liang, Grigg-Saito, & Toof, 2012). Community Health Nurses can address the needs of this population by first addressing main concerns specific to this culture such as language barrier and possible mental disability caused by the civil war. The use of interpreters during health visits can help in bridging the language barrier that exists. Moreover, use of instructional/education materials in Khmer language will accentuate the verbal