Working With Diversity, Northern Ireland Section 75 Equality Scheme Advice

Ablutions and Toilet

There are no special needs.

Health and Medicine.

Traditional and Chinese medicine play an important role in health care and people may express a preference for herbal medicines rather than Western medicines. However, most ethnic Vietnamese prefer Western medicines.

Communication:

Traditionally, in social as in family life, hostility, aggression and other negative feelings are suppressed. Respect. Self-control, flexibility and a readiness to compromise are also highly valued traits.

Smiling is a common social response, which can be used to mark a variety of reactions, such as anger, frustration, embarrassment, disappointment, lack of knowledge, lack of understanding, happiness or unhappiness. Smiling is therefore open to misinterpretation from our cultural perspective.

Similarly ambiguous is the answer '' yes'' : it may be used to indicate that the listener is paying attention and does not necessarily indicate agreement. People may say ''yes'' because they try to avoid disagreement while privately disagreeing.

Naming Conventions:

Many first names can be used for either gender, not unlike '' David'' or ''Liam'', this is not, however, universally true. Vietnamese people list their family name first, then their middle name, with their first (given) name listed last. Family members use different given names (first names aren't passed down). For example, if the name is Nguyen Van Hoa, Nyugen is the family name, and the Hoa is the person's given name.

Diet:

The staple food is rice. Clear soups are usually taken with every meal. There are no dietary restrictions, but many do not eat lamb. They do not use much milk or many dairy products. Vegetables are chopped, cooked and fried in a similar way to this country.

Fasting:

There are no particular times set aside for fasting.

Modesty:

Vietnamese women, like the Chinese, are for the most part very shy and modest and would probably feel more relaxed when being attended by a female health care worker.

Blood Transfusions/Organ Transplants/Post-Mortems:

Although there is no specific religious objection to these, there is great apprehension regarding operations in general and a great dislike of giving blood samples.

Antibiotics:

Vietnamese people feel that the smaller doses administered here do not have the same affect as the larger doses given in Vietnam.

Family Planning:

Large families are a source of pride in Vietnam. Family planning is available in Vietnam on a limited scale. The most common forms are the pill, the coil or the condom. It is a subject, which is not openly discussed and it is often easier to talk to the husband and wife separately.

Childhealth

Births:

Most births take place in hospital. A traditional Chinese dish 'Keung Chow' is brought to the mother by the family within 24 hours of delivery. This is said to purge the mother of infection.

Cold foods, salads and drinks are not acceptable at this time. The mother may be unwilling to take a bath or shower as immersion in water is considered bad for health. When the baby is one month old, a special meal is prepared to celebrate a successful birth and the baby's arrival into the community.

Vietnamese mothers bottle-feed their babies. It is uncommon to wean the baby on to a cup before the first birthday. In addition, drinks are often given via a bottle until the child is three years old or even older. This can have a disastrous effect on dental health.

When a child is ill, the first recourse may be to a folk or family remedy. A common remedy is rubbing the location of the illness with a spoon or a coin and some kind of ointment, such as Tiger Balm or ''heating oil'', until bruising results. This kind of cure is called gio (''rubbing off the bad wind''). It is reputed to work by getting rid of the ''wind'' (gio or phong), which has caused the cold, sore throat, stomach or back pain, headache or flu. Since bruising is an effect of this, it can be mistaken for child abuse.

Care of the Dying

There are no special needs.

At Death:

There are no special points to note for the health care worker with family wishes being the only guide. The body is laid out at home for one to three days prior to the funeral. During this period, ritual food and drink is offered to the soul of the deceased, and friends and relatives will come and pay their respects with their offerings. A piece of gold is placed in the mouth. After the burial, ritual food, chopsticks and incense are left on the raised grave. The date for the funeral is chosen by consulting the deceased's horoscope. The position and alignment of the grave are specially determined but this is not practical in Britain.

Health and Social Care