Conclusion

I've been impressed, during the entire course so far, to discover such a diversity of believes and conceptions surrounding health, illness, the body and the soul, birth, death, maternity, etc. In my first paper, interviewing my Japanese roommate, I was shocked to found out that someone so close could hold views of the world so different from my own.

On the contrary, in this paper, I discovered conceptions of the world and of health and illness more similar to my own than I had expected. It made me realize the importance of never assuming about my patient’s conception of health and illness. What appears obvious to us might not be so for our neighbors, friends and patients, while one might find in cultural groups far from one’s own points of agreement that were never suspected. So much for my pride of having little prejudices!

I wonder how often our nursing interventions are limited by such hidden divergences in our conceptions of health and illness – or by our prejudices about these divergences while we might actually share more than expected. How can we uncover those differences and similarity in the most tactful manner? How can we adapt to them and use them to better help our patients?

I took this glimpse into someone else's religion as a starting point for my own reflections on this richness of worldviews that exists only in my city. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The picture is from the Baha'i House of Worship in New Delhi, India.