On haitian culture

Case Study on Haitian Culture Introduction Latin America, including Caribbean, is a region of stark contrasts between bustling modern cities and quiet rural villages that have changed little in centuries. It has a complex mix of Iberian and indigenous cultural influences. They have Napoleonic legal tradition that, for the most part, considers private consensual sexual activity to be beyond the law, but a Roman Catholic religious tradition offers teaching that homosexuality is a sin. There is a dominant cultural ideal of hyper-masculinity, with a great deal of tolerance for sexual diversity in some indigenous sub-cultures. However, Haitians are proud of their history and tradition but majority of them are undergoing rapid change as they integrate into the global community. Their culture still applies to those who even migrated to the United States. In summary, the paper attempts to look at cultural views of homosexuality in Haiti as well as identifying culturally congruent strategies to address in designing of HIV prevention in the Haiti community. In addition, it will briefly discuss reaction of Ronald parents regarding his HIV status.
Haitians dominant cultural views of homosexuality
Expressions of homosexuality are not accepted by society outside of certain culture and religious rites such as Carnival among the Haitian community. Haitian Creole reflects common attitudes towards homosexuals. There are, however, significant variations in attitudes, based in large measure on religious conviction. Evangelical Protestant denominations, citing scriptural passages they interpret as prohibiting homosexuality, tend to be least tolerant, often excluding openly homosexual men and women from their congregations. The Catholic Church has a somewhat more subtle approach. They condemn homosexual practices, but tolerating the presence of homosexuals in religious ceremonies, and calling on the faithful, not to mistreat them (World Health Organization, 2010, pp. 5-21).
If Ronald’s parents were to learn of his positive HIV status, how might they react if they are religious and traditional?
The response from Ronald parents’, if they were religious, to his HIV status would have vacillated a moderate stand of finger-pointing and blame him. This is, as a result of, being tradition and religious. They would stick to the idea of sex being holy and having its rightful place in marriage, and of course only between a man and a woman. In defense of their stance, however, it can be argued that Ronald deviation from this ideal led to HIV infection (Desilva, Grey & Gonzalez, 2009, pp. 70-77).
Identify three specific culturally congruent strategies to address in designing HIV-prevention practices in the Haitian community
When designing counseling and prevention program for the Haitian community and its population, it is important to note that best practices in counseling would not automatically translate intact across cultural lines in the first place. However, adaptations of best practices to integrate culture-specific approach can become an active ingredient in enhancing the outcomes. Additionally, cultural translation would be the best adaptation to be congruent with the population. Haitian population should be undertaken when there is variability across the groups and when the cultural process influences risks. Lastly, there is a need to understand and integrate patient values among the community members and keeping attention at ethno cultural factors such as the beliefs (Purnell, 2013, pp. 60-69). The culturally congruent strategies include: Community mobilization to enhance social change, ensuring political commitment, and creating the understanding of traditional belief systems as well biomedicine.
In conclusion, it is noteworthy to state that Ronald failed to reveal is status. Despite Ronald failing to inform his parents about the status; it might be attributed to the fact that he was fearful of stigmatization as well as his parents if they were religious and adhered to their culture. It would still be the responsibilities of the parents to take care of Ronald and forgive him as well despite their culture and religion stance.
References
Desilva A, N. G., Grey, K. S., & Gonzalez, E. D. (2009). Using Multicultural Lens to Understand Illness Among Haitians Living in America. Professional Phsycology: Research and Practice, 37(2), 70-77.
World Health Organisation, (2010). Culture and Mental Health in Haiti: A Literature Review. Geneva (pp. 5-21). retrieved 1st February, 2015. from
http://www. who. int/mental_health/emergencies/culture_mental_health_haiti_eng. pdf
Purnell, L. D. (2013). Transcultural Health Care: A culturally competent Approach (4th ed.) Organizational cultural compentence (chapter 4). Phildelphia: F. A Davis Co, pp. 60-69