The population chosen is elderly citizens attending a day care center. Assessing this community according to the twelve domains of Purcell's Model of Transcultural Health Care (Purnell, 2005), this population of patients is part of a large, inner city population consisting of people of different racial and ethnic makeup, all of whom have lived in the United States for a long period of time. All are English speaking to reasonable degree in that they understand what is going on around them and can communicate with each other and their caregivers. Because they have lived in the United States for a long time, they are acculturated and they do not have culturally-based issues.
The roles of their families, and family organization varies, some having large, extended families, others being alone, and others falling somewhere in between (Purnell, 2005). Most live with one of their children, while some live with a spouse, or on their own, or with another surviving sibling. All are retired so there are no workforce issues involved with this group. The group includes several different racial and ethnic groups - White, Black Asian, Hispanic and Muslim, and some of mixed racial origin.
Because they are all geriatric patients, there is no problem with high-risk behavior (Purnell, 2005). Nutrition is a problem with some of these patients because of their age, financial situation, and illnesses they have. There are some ethnic preferences in food tastes, and some dislikes because of ethnic differences, but most are adapted to a Western diet. The problems they face nutritionally are those faced by the older population everywhere, with limited incomes for some, limits on tolerated foods due to illness with others, and loss of appetitive due to advancing age or illness with others. Pregnancy and childbearing are not a consideration in this group. Death rituals vary because of the varied ethnic makeup of the population, and depend o...