The impact of history and culture on nursing care of native american elders.

摘要

Numerous cultural and historical factors need to be understood and respected when providing nursing care for Native American elders. For many Native Americans, it is an intrinsic value that elders are wisdom keepers. Elders have successfully navigated the path through unprecedented challenges, including genocide (Brown, 1970; Struthers & Lowe, 2003) and eth-nocide (Charney, 1994; Clastres, 1988) of their nations and cultures. The list of American genocidal policies includes mass execution (Andregg, 2008), biological warfare (Fenn, 2000), forced removal from homelands (Young, 1958), destruction of the family structure through forced boarding school attendance (Adams 1995), relocation programs aimed at assimilation, incarceration without due cause, indoctrination of non-indigenous values, forced surgical sterilization of Native American women (Torpy, 2000), and prevention of religious practices (Locust, 1988).