Running head: CULTURAL INTERVIEW 1

Cultural Interview: Filipino American

Lauren T. Kalanta

California State University, Stanislaus

When choosing an informant, the culturally unique individual within Filipino American

culture was considered. A close friend who was born in the Philippines was chosen to be the
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informant of a cultural interview. The interview was conducted in a mutual friend's home on June

16th, 2016 where he discussed aspects and experiences of what he considers to be his culture (M.

R., personal communication, June 16, 2016). M.R. is a twenty-two year old male who considers

himself to be apart of both Filipino and American culture. He is a first generation immigrant

within his family. He was born in Roxas City, in the Visayas region of the Philippines. He lived

in his hometown and was fully immersed in his culture until he was eleven-years-old when his

entire immediate family immigrated to the United States. He has currently lived in Modesto,

California, United States with his parents and older sister for ten-years and has acculturated into

Western, American, and even Californian culture. He defines culture as the set of beliefs,

traditions, and values that are followed by certain groups of people. He finds that race shows

how different people can be based on their place of origin and their ethnicity. For him, his culture

and race incorporates both Filipino and American aspects.

Giger & Davidhizars Transcultural Assessment Model

Communication

During the sit-down interview, Roland was relaxed and had an average voice quality. He

spoke in English with clear enunciation of words. Despite being bilingual, M.R. does not speak

English with an accent that is different from Northern Californian dialects. There are at least 93

different dialects that are spoken in the Philippines; the main of these is Tagalog (Giger, 2017).

M.R. fluently speaks the dialect of Tagalog in addition to English. He began learning formal

English during his school age education in the Philippines. Tagalog is the language spoken

within his home and between his family. When communicating with others, he gets his point

across by talking to other's level of understanding. M.R. adheres to the concept of pakikisama

and strives to get along with others (Giger, 2017, p. 413). He enjoys communicating with others
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but found communication to be difficult when he first arrived to the United States because he had

to translate in his mind before conversing with others. Over time, he adapted and found

communicating with others to be more enjoyable. Body language and mechanics during the

interview involved facing the interviewer, using hand gestures, and making eye contact. Silence

was utilized when listening to questions, or for very brief moments when he was deciding the

answers to questions. When responding to questions he used both words and body movement but

in the home, they mostly use gestures and body movement to communicate. He made note that a

unique feature of Filipino culture is pointing with lips. He explained that when their hands are

busy doing something else and they need to point out something to someone, they will use their

lips and point to where it is. All of these communication aspects provide a roadmap to M.R.'s

culture.

Space

When questioned, M.R.'s degree of spatial comfort when communicating is arms length

or about three feet. Filipino Americans are typically a non-contact people (Giger, 2017). While

being observed, he did not behave in the same manner as stereotypical Filipino American culture

since he made no movements to make further distance between himself and the interviewer

during invasion of space less than three feet. There was no touching involved during the

interview except for a hug goodbye, both before and after the interview. He accepted the hugs

without difficulty; again, going against standard Filipino culture. M.R. described that when

speaking to family members, he stands closer to them than he would other people; however, he

stands arms length to three feet or even further when communicating with coworkers and

strangers. He does not feel the need to decrease the space between them since he does not have

contact with them outside of the primary setting. If a stranger were to touch him, he would
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lengthen the distance between himself and the stranger and attempt to analyze the situation. This

type of interaction is not typical for M.R. When a loved one touches him, he finds that to be

acceptable and will welcome the interaction. He finds that touching and decreasing physical

space is a method of his loved ones grabbing his attention or a part of their normal interaction.

He noted feeling comfortable with the distance of the interview since the interviewer is a close

friend.

Social Organizations

M.R. is currently living with his married parents as a bachelor with no children but has

many friends. Roland defines social activities as activities that involve interacting with friends,

classmates, or relatives. He feels that social activities should be something that everyone

participating enjoys. A few of his hobbies include socializing with friends, eating his favorite

foods, playing guitar, reading, listening to music, and watching movies. He feels that his function

within the family involves technology support. Since his parents have trouble using electronic

devices, they come to him whenever they have technology issues. His role within the family is

that of a first born son and a younger brother. As a child, he was influenced by his parents and

grandparents and continues to be influenced by them. He describes his family as following a

hierarchical system. Among Filipino culture, there is a strong sense of family and a compassion

for loyalty with the family setting (Giger, 2017). His father attempts to uphold this loyalty while

making household decisions and his grandmother is respected as the elder of the family. While

living in the Philippines, M.R. and his family attended Catholic church. Today, they attend

Catholic church every Sunday. He believes that leading a good life involves heavy prayer and

following the teachings of the church. He does not believe in luck, fate, chance, witchcraft, or

magic but does believe in supernatural forces. M.R. views working as a responsibility to the
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family in order to pay bills and have access to enjoyable activities. He and his family value work

ethic and consider able bodied people who do not work to be lazy and selfish. He currently has

only ever had one job working nights as a patient sitter for Doctor's Medical Center, Modesto.

He is currently satisfied with his job but is striving towards a future career in nursing. Based on

M.R.'s answers, his social organization appears to follow both Filipino and American culture.

Time

In terms of time, M.R. mirrors typical Filipino culture in the sense that he is present

oriented (Giger, 2017). He focuses on the here and now. Punctuality is important to Roland as

evidenced by his answers to several questions. When asked his arrival time if he has an

appointment at 2 pm, he answered that he would arrive thirty minutes early. His reasoning is that

being late is disrespectful and can produce a bad reputation. He defined the statement about half

an hour as being exactly thirty minutes. He found this question to be amusing and pointless by

evidence of head shaking and laughter. When asked about his sleeping patterns his answers were

geared more towards his participation in nursing school culture rather than Filipino culture. He

confessed that since starting the program, he has gotten irregular amounts of sleep. He gets an

average of about six hours of sleep per night. He works a twelve hour night shift once a week

and sleeps during the daytime in order to compensate for lost sleep. He uses a cellphone alarm

clock to wake himself after each sleeping period. He keeps track of time using a cellphone and a

digital watch. He notes that he always wears a watch no matter the daily activity. His application

and utilization of time reveal cultural traits of Roland as both a Filipino American and a nursing

student.

Environmental Control
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M.R. considers himself to be in an excellent state of health. Roland's perception of his

own health mirror's itself with Filipino culture. Traditionally, members of Filipino culture

perceive themselves to be of very good to excellent health status despite exceeding the cutoff

points for BMI, increased waist circumference, and disproportionate waist-to-hip ratio (Cruz,

Lao, & Heinlein, 2013). For M.R., his health status fits his self-perception of health. His

definition of good health is being free from illness and being able to do whatever the person

wants and not being hindered by sickness. He explained that he models his self definition of

health as evidenced by his independent and able-bodied lifestyle. Typically, Filipino culture

includes an external locus of control perceiving that treatment methods of illness are due to

supernatural forces (Giger, 2017). As previously mentioned, M.R. does believe in supernatural

forces and prayer; however he does not believe that prayer can completely solve health issues.

He displays an internal locus of control being that he only sees prayer as a means of talking to

God, and is not something that can help change sickness or physical circumstances. In this sense,

he gravitates more towards American culture rather than Filipino.

Biological Variations

M.R.'s definition of race is categorizing people based on their physical

characteristics. Biologic variations within the Filipino community consist of short stature, small

frames, brown to peach skin color, and susceptibility to multiple genetic diseases (Giger, 2017).

A physical examination was not conducted but subjective information from Roland was

recorded. Roland's weighs about 142 pounds and stands 5'5 tall. Upon observation, he has light

brown skin, black hair, and a small to medium frame. He has multiple diseases within his family

history. The two most prevalent are diabetes and hypertension. His mother is pre-diabetic, his

grandmother has diabetes, and his father has hypertension. M.R., himself, recognizes that he is
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predisposed to theses genetic diseases and he makes lifestyle choices to prevent illness by

attending the gym and keeping his intake of sodium at a minimum. Both of his parents are nurses

and whenever illness presents itself in his home, they utilize Western medicine. While living in

the Philippines, preventative medicine included getting lots of sleep, waking up early, and eating

a healthy diet. Home remedies included ginger tea and prayer from his grandmother. His

grandmother also told him that if he were to get a fever to drink coke and eat crackers and that it

will make him feel better. She emphasized that it would not cure his illness but take away nausea

or fatigue. When a family member is ill, his family lets them rest and leave them alone. During

difficult times including anger or stress, M.R. uses coping strategies such as exercise or playing

music. As a child he was involved with alternative medicine but today he utilizes Western

medicine.

Nursing Interventions

In relation to the health promotion of M.R. based on his cultural needs, there are three

nursing interventions that could be incorporated into his standard care plan that also fall under

Leninger's Three Modes of Care. Leninger's first mode of culture care preservation focuses on

making decisions that preserve and uphold beliefs and values of the culture (Leninger, 1998). A

nursing intervention that falls under this mode of care is identify with client and family

sociocultural factors that influence health-seeking behavior (Giger, 2016, p. 425). This

intervention applies to the first mode of care because it allows for the preservation of culture or

beliefs by identify practices that might hinder seeking healthcare and understanding how to

deliver care congruently. By identifying the factors, we can make medical decisions that preserve

the culture while providing care. Leninger's second mode of care is culture care accommodation

by accommodating care to include actions or decisions that help cultures adapt with others for
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culturally congruent, effective healthcare and coping strategies (Leninger, 1998). A nursing

intervention that relates to this mode of care is determine support systems available to family

(Giger, 2016, p. 425). This intervention is relevant because determining and utilizing support

systems aids the health care provider in accommodating delivery of care in order to meet the

cultural needs of the patient. Accommodation to culture helps the patient feel more comfortable

and at ease during their stay in a medical facility. Leninger's third modality of care is culture care

repatterning and-or restructuring which involves professionals to take actions and make

decisions that help patients modify lifestyle behaviors for better health care outcomes (Leninger,

1998). An intervention that falls under Leninger's third mode of care is involve family in care

and scheduling of client-centered activities (Giger, 2016, p. 425). By involving the patient in

their own care, there is room for modification of lifestyle habits and create an increase in care

plan adherence.

Transcultural Nursing Standard of Practice

One transcultural nursing standard of practice that is important and applicable to M.R. is

Standard 3: Knowledge of Cultures (Douglas et al.). The standard is defined as nurses shall gain

an understanding of the perspectives, tradition, values, practices, and family systems of culturally

diverse individuals, families, communities, and populations they care for, as well as a knowledge

of the complex variables that affect the achievement of health and well-being (Douglas et al.,

2011, p. 317). This standard is essentially explaining that in order to provide culturally

competent care, the nurse must first be culturally competent. This standard can attribute to

improved health outcomes of M.R. by encompassing both of his cultures into his care plan.

Culturally, the health care professional can recognize his Filipino practices of consuming foods

high in sodium and his predisposition to hypertension and diabetes. The professional can also be
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aware that he is bicultural and does not need a translator due to his fluency in English. Using this

standard, the nurse can prevent stereotyping and assumptions about various cultures.

Analysis of Cross Cultural Experience

While interviewing M.R., there were notices of cross cultural components.

According to Cruz, Lao, and Heinlein (2013), Filipino Americans consider themselves more

Filipino than American but they adapt and incorporate aspects of American culture such as

dietary changes, practices, and lifestyle choices. M.R.'s culture encompasses a combination of

both Filipino and American culture. Since M.R. is acculturated into American and Californian

culture, it was fairly easy to communicate with him. The only adaptations that had to be made

was the repeating of questions that he did not understand; however, this was not perceived as a

cultural barrier but rather miscommunication due to unclear explanation of the question. Non-

verbal differences noted were the hand gestures used when talking about topics of interest versus

topics of disinterest. When a subject that Roland seemed to enjoy was discussed, he used vivid

hand gestures and smiling. When topics that bored him were discussed, he kept his hands at his

side and used shoulder shrugging. His method of communication blended well with that of the

interviewer.

The most important lesson learned from the transcultural interview is that culture is not

inherently defined to the individual. Culture is a combination of multiple factors that affect the

individual in a unique and complex fashion. An individual can be a part of multiple cultures and

subcultures. Defining oneself to a specific culture does not guarantee an adherence to all cultural

aspects. Interviewing M.R. has lead to an understanding that culture is a flowing and ever

growing phenomenon.
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References

Cruz, F., Lao, B., & Heinlein, C. (2013). Level of acculturation, food intake, dietary changes,

and health status of first-generation filipino americans in southern california. Journal of

the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 25(11), 619-630.

Douglas M., Pierce J., Rosenkoetter M., Pacquiao D., Callister L., Hattar-Pollara M., Lauderdale

J., Milstead J., Nardi G., & Purnell, L. (2011). Standards of practice for culturally

competent nursing care : 2011 update. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 22(4),

317-333.

Giger, J. (2017). Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention. (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO:

Mosby, Inc.
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Leninger, M. (1998). Leininger's theory of nursing: Cultural care diversity and universality.

Nursing Science Quarterly, 1(4), 1-32.