Influence of Culture on the Perception of Health
Explore how culture, worldview, and medical tradition shape different approaches to health, illness, and care.
Purchase → Receive login link → Access your course on TalentLMS immediately.
This course is for professional herbal register members only
What is the Influence of Culture on the Perception of Health?
The influence of culture on the perception of health refers to how cultural beliefs and worldviews shape how individuals understand health, illness, and treatment.
This course is for professional herbal register members only
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand how culture influences perceptions of health, illness, and medical care
- Explain the concept of worldview and its role in shaping clinical thinking
- Identify cultural factors that affect patient understanding and treatment decisions
- Recognize barriers to therapeutic compliance linked to cultural differences
- Analyze the historical and philosophical foundations of Western medical thought
- Evaluate how cultural assumptions may impact your own clinical practice
- Develop greater awareness of diverse medical paradigms across cultures
- Apply culturally sensitive approaches to improve patient communication and care
Designed to be flexible
With online learning materials at your disposal, you can study at your own pace as you progress through each module.
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Professionally Relevant Learning
This module forms part of ICTIM’s broader educational offering in herbal and integrative medicine and supports continued learning in culture, health, and traditional medical systems.
Course Overview
We tend to think that culture does not matter when it comes to medicine. It is now recognised as one of the major obstacles to therapeutic compliance and to patients not understanding their illness.
In this lecture series, you will gain insight into the cultural aspect of clinical care and how to address it.
Purchase → Receive login link → Access your course on TalentLMS immediately.
This course is for professional herbal register members only
I would highly recommend this course for anyone with an interest in a holistic approach to medicine. The course is well structured with a focus on practical applications. As a medical research scientist by trade, I chose this course in particular owing to two factors:
- The material is often backed by research verified information and
- The lecturers are practitioners with real life experience
The course itself is provided in a flexible online learning approach which works perfectly for me. I have a young family and a full time job and I find that the lecturers have been very approachable and flexible all the way through the course. I really enjoy this course and I really feel like I will be well prepared to take up a career in this field.
How this course can support your practice
Designed to help you build confidence, deepen your knowledge, and apply new insights directly in your professional work.
Improve cultural awareness in healthcare
Strengthen patient communication and understanding
Broaden your perspective on traditional and biomedical systems
Apply more culturally sensitive approaches in practice
Course Curriculum
Uncover the cultural influences that shape how we think about health and medicine.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
All knowledge is a form of processing experience by the individual and society, and it is through this processing, a worldview comes into being. It is formed by a person's local, situational, cultural, and institutional situation, and it influences our perception of health, illness, and medicine.
Identifying our culture's influences on our thought processes may help us realize what is essential and valuable in our training and tradition. This module is especially relevant to health care professionals in Europe and America. It explores the different cultural influences underpinning health care training and how we may be blind to the massive impact this has on our clinical work.
LECTURE 1
This lecture discusses the different cultural concepts that influence the western world's worldview and how this influences our perception of health, illness, and medicine. Most of us do not know why we think the way we do. An understanding of worldview is essential for all healthcare professionals in a multicultural society where in daily practice, we may be insensitive to different views of the world and how they influence functional choices regarding health care. Therefore, it is crucial to identify and study the influences on our thought processes to realise what is important and valuable and respect every tradition.
LECTURE 2
In this lecture, we will examine the Aristotelian and scholastic ‘Chain of being’ concept, Cartesian philosophy, Francis Bacon’s mathematical description of nature and how they have influenced European culture for at least three centuries. This narrow scope has led to the lack of a comprehensive perspective and a deficiency within the European worldview of the complexity of living systems present in other cultures.
LECTURE 3
We will examine concepts inherited from the Greeks and how they still influence us today. These are the: Law of Contraries, Separation of soul and body, and the idea of a transcendental God. This final lecture also examines the effect these concepts have on a person's sense of proficiency in clinical practice.
Who This Course Is For
This course is designed for individuals who want to deepen their understanding of how culture influences healthcare and clinical practice.
- Healthcare professionals working in patient care
- Medical, nursing, or allied health practitioners
- Students or graduates in health-related fields
- Professionals interested in integrative or holistic medicine
- Anyone seeking to improve cultural awareness in healthcare
This course is for professional herbal register members only
Not only did I enjoy the course and the challenges it posed, but the course gave me insight and knowledge into herbology that I can apply in my Chiropractic practice. It was very easy getting signed up and getting all the information needed. I appreciate the opportunity to grow with such a great organization.
Deepen Your Understanding of Culture in Healthcare
Build a deeper understanding of how culture shapes health, illness, and clinical care through flexible, self-paced learning.
Purchase → Receive login link → Access your course on TalentLMS immediately.
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All lectures in the series are presented using audio and written text.
