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Health assessment 2
Musbau Lawal
SIAST
NRSG 201
March 20, 2013

 President: Dilma Rousseff
 Population: 198.043 Millions Persons
 Capital: Brasilia
 Currency: Brazilian Real
 Government: Constitutional
republic, Presidential system, Federal
republic
 Largest city: sao Paulo

 Portuguese is the official language of
Brazil, speak by 99% of the population
 there are an estimated 210 languages
spoken in Brazil
 0.8% speaks Amerindian
languages, while the others 0.2% are
languages brought by immigrants

 55% of Brazil's population are white

 38% are mixed white and black

 5% are black

 The remaining 1% is comprised of
Japanese, Arab, and Amerindian groups

 Brazil is divided into five regions:

› Norte (North)
›
› Nordeste (Northeast)

› Centro-Oeste (Central-West)

› Sudeste (Southeast)

› Su l (South)

 The Brazilian population was formed by
the influx of Portuguese settlers and
African
 The Portuguese reached Brazil in
1500, just for the business of the famous
brazilwood.
 The Portuguese made no real effort to
colonize the land.

 The symbols that
best characterize
Brazil are;

› Celebration of
carnival

› sport of
soccer, called
futebol

 Greetings:
› Brazilians usually greet each other with a handshake.
› Women customarily kiss each other on both cheeks
and good friends often embrace.
› When leaving a small group, it is customary to shake
hands with all who are present.
 Visiting:
› An invitation to a Brazilian home should be
considered a special honor.
› When visiting in Brazil, it is customary to arrive 10 to 15
minutes late.
› Discussions on politics, religion, or other controversial
subjects should be avoided.
› Visitors are expected to stay at least 2 hours or more

 In Brazil there is a public health care system
that was created in 1988

 all citizens have access to health care

 all citizens are entitled to full and complete
health care

 citizens may also purchase private
insurance

 Infants and children can become ill if
exposed to fresh air or wind
 When someone is sick, they are not
expected to make decisions about their
own health issues. Families make the
decisions.
 Family members often share prescription
drugs and self medication with antibiotics
 Brazilians in Canada frequently bring drugs
with them or have them sent from Brazil
 Organ donation is uncommon.

 It is taboo to have sexual relations before menarche

 Uncommon for parents speak about sex to their
children at home

 Twin children are generated by antagonistic spirits
and must therefore be sacrificed.

 When a pregnant woman, widowed, divorced has
sexual relations with another man, there is the
difficulty in determining the father of the child.

 The religion of the majority of Brazilians is
Roman Catholic
 Brazil has the largest Catholic population in
the world
 73 percent of Brazilians identify themselves
as Catholic
 Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Candomble
and Umbanda are widespread
 There is freedom of religious belief and
expression

 Churches;

Pentecostal, Episcopal,
Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist,
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, small minorities of Jews,
Muslims, and Buddhists.

 Terminal Illness/death:

› Family members should be consulted before the patient is
informed

› Diagnosis/prognosis should presented to the family members
first.

› Patient not expected to make decisions about their own
health issues

› Death may be perceived as God’s will

› Hold Catholic/Christian beliefs about life after death

› The clinician should inform family members
as soon as death is certain and offer to call a
priest or chaplain.
› The family may want to arrange for
extended visitation to be with the body
before it goes to the morgue.
› Final good-byes may involve kissing and
caressing the body.
› In Brazil there is no embalming and the body
is prepared at the hospital.

 Work opportunities for women are varied
and available depending on social class

 Women are still expected to do most if
not all of the cooking and cleaning

 Going to local bars and clubs as an
unaccompanied woman is not advised

 Brazilian culture prefers physical assessment
done at an unhurried pace, they desire to
engage in conversation first before nurses or
physician touch. They expect that their
personal privacy will be respected by: closing
doors, curtains and by providing adequate
coverings/draping to limit exposure, knocking
or announcing oneself prior to entering a
treatment room/curtained area. The vast
majority are catholic, they respect the
presence of one’s own gender during certain
parts of a physical examination, treatment or
procedure done by someone of the opposite
sex.

 Family is the foundation of the Brazilian
culture. It is common to find three
generations living under the same roof in
Brazil. Every family has a strong tie to the
extended family, which includes
grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, an
d close friends. They are all expected to
participate during decision making on
the terminally ill loved one.

 There are few food restrictions amongst
Brazilians. The most common are the fish
that predated other fish, along with
scaleless fish and Black prochilodus; a
species that feeds at the bottom of
rivers. Other species the Brazilians
avoided included piranha, rays, and
sea catfish. Predatory fish are often
tabooed for the ill individual.

 The Brazilian culture is subject to high risk
of malaria, yellow fever, rabies, and
typhoid. Due to the size of the
Amazon, there are many smaller
cities, villages, or rural areas where
exposure might occur through food or
water. Animal and insect bites are very
common occurrence from bats, stray
dogs and cats, wildlife, and other
mammals in the Amazon.

 I don’t think anything needs to be changed
from my usual way of therapeutic
communicating style. Solid communication
skills are one of the most important aspects
of nursing. All patients should be treated
with respect and dignity regardless of
age, sex, race or culture. I will continue to
listen, be emotionally aware, be clear, and
speak with a calm voice with all my
patients.

 Burdick, J.S. (1993). Looking for God in Brazil:
The Progressive Catholic Church in Urban
Brazil's Religious Arena.
 Lesser, J. (1999). Negotiating National
Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the
Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil.
 Maxine, L. M. (2007) countries and their
cultures. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
Website: http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-
Co/Brazil.html#ixzz2NxNQjMVT
 Parker, R.G. (1991). Bodies, Pleasures, and
Passions: Sexual Culture in Contemporary
Brazil.

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