A1 Cultural factors GapFill

The culture that someone belongs to is made up of a variety of factors. It includes an individual's typical customs, traditions, religious beliefs, language, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These aspects are likely to influence an individual's likelihood of accessing health and social care services and, therefore, have an impact on their health and wellbeing.

For instance, some cultures view hallucinations as significant religious and spiritual experiences, rather than symptoms of a worrying mental health problem or  hearing impairmentsinherited conditionscardiovascular diseasesubstance misuse. As a result, they may not seek treatment due to their beliefs about the causes of the experience. Someone's religion, customs and beliefs may open up an individual to   social inclusiondiscriminationsubstance misusefavouritism. For example, a lack of prayer rooms in certain facilities may prevent certain religions from accessing the services these provide, such as fitness centres or health clinics. Despite these potential negative effects on health and wellbeing, religion can have many positive influences. These include:

• Being part of a  communitycommonwealthclubcolony and being able to access support networks
• Meditation or prayer as relaxation techniques that can relieve  sickle cell diseasehearing difficultiesobesitystress and tension
• Disapproval of alcohol, smoking and recreational drug use, helping people to avoid negative   economiclifestylesocialenvironmental factors such as these
• Meaning to life and value of a person in the world. This could give an individual the drive to be a better person and one who contributes in a positive way to society.

An individual’s gender  likenessidentityappearanceassignment (i.e. as either a man or a woman, or neither), or sexual  orientationexperimentationdesignationassignment (i.e. whether heterosexual, homosexual, pansexual or other), can be a strain on the wellbeing of that individual if they are not recognised by wider society. Furthermore, gender roles and expectations that have been ingrained in society for years can put unreasonable amounts of pressure on people to conform to what is perceived to be norms, such as women being kind, caring and  familyselfsportcareer-oriented, and men being assertive go-getters and achievement-oriented. 

 LanguageHousingSensoryPhysical barriers could be another cultural factor that impacts someone’s ability to access healthcare services, especially if the person is new to the country and has a limited ability to speak and understand English.