Spirituality among American Indians in Health and Disease: Culturally Appropriate Recommendations for Health Care Providers

Abstract

There are close to 560 different tribes in the United States of America and to be able to understand the complexity of the different tribes and cultures, there is a need to understand that while most tribes have differences they share certain values. These differences do not, for the most part, conflict with some of the values we will discuss later in this article. They are mostly of language and cultural practices, but the basic values remain the same. Even though many of the American Indian tribes have been viewed as having become acculturated, many American Indians have retained ties to their culture through language, spiritual practices, and family. These spiritual values will be discussed in relation to infant care practice.