Ethno Psychology and its Application-Review

Culturally competent mental health care is vital in health care delivery in the present world. The phrase culture encompasses everything about the ways in which an individual was raised, from the language to the food person eats to whether an individual feels responsible for his or her mental health. The changing demographics and economics of the growing multicultural world and longstanding disparities in the health status of people have challenged the health care system to consider cultural competence as priority. As, Mental health professionals are at risk of cultural bias and stereotyping, it is essential to attend the cultural differences and build skills necessary for cross cultural expertise when providing mental health care. In particular, Psychiatric nurses should be culturally competent, yet such competence is very difficult to achieve. If culture is ignored, the differential outcomes and unequal distribution of disease burden noted today will be exacerbated. To alleviate this outcome it is important to create awareness among the l health professionals. This review explores our understanding on ethnopsychology and its application to mental health care.