Cultural understanding

I was treating a 51 year old aboriginal lady on an acute neurology ward who had suffered a brainstem stroke. On the initial assessment the patient was compliant with treatment but not interested in physiotherapy. After seeing her a couple of times I entered her room and 7 members of her family had come to visit her. This included children, grandchildren and people from the community that she lived in. in an effort to gain rapport with the patient and encourage an interest in physio I invited the patient to bring her family and friends to the gym during therapy. Although it was challenging to fit the whole group in to the gym, and control the children playing with the equipment the patient performed much better and her attitude towards physio greatly improved.
As I was able to respect her cultural values she returned the favour by respecting the physio goals I was trying to achieve. Each session folloeing this one the patient was enthusiastic towards physio and her family were included in each session when present.
From this situation I have understood the importance of respecting cultural values. It has demonstrated that you are able to gain rapport and respect of the patient from acknowledging their personal values