Sikhism

1. Sikhism What possible barriers could interrupt high quality and positive care, should these factors not be understood.

2. Medicine and care General beliefs and practices; · The sanctity of life is an injunction. Human life is of the highest form. · Blood transfusions are allowed. · Assisted suicide and euthanasia are not encouraged. · Maintaining a terminal patient on artificial life support for a prolonged period in a vegetative state is not encouraged. · Organ transplantation, both donating and receiving, is allowed.· Autopsy is permitted. · Artificial reproductive technology is permitted only during the span of an intact marriage between husband and wife. · Genetic engineering to cure a disease is acceptable. To date, Sikhs are opposed to human cloning. · Abortion is not advised except for medical indications. · Male infants are not circumcised

3. Attitude to gender The role of women in Sikhism is outlined in the Sikh scriptures, which state that the Sikh woman is to be regarded as equal to the Sikh man. In Sikhism, women are considered to have the same souls as men and an equal right to grow spiritually. They are allowed to lead religious congregations, take part in the Akhand Path perform Kirtan, work as a Granthi, and participate in all religious, cultural, social, and secular activities. As such, Sikhism was the first major world religion to state that women were equal in every single respect. Sikhism has no specific teachings about homosexuality. The holy scripture of Sikhs, does not explicitly mention homosexuality; however, married life is encouraged time and time again in Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Whenever marriage is mentioned, it is always in reference to a man and a woman. A male Sikh should consider all females older than him as his mother, equal in age to him as a sister, and younger than him as a daughter.

4. Dress

5. Language The Punjabi language is their most spoken language. In a health care setting the care provider may struggle to speak Punjabi, however it has been stated in wikipedia that “most Sikhism that live in the UK or travel to the UK have good knowledge of the English language”

6. Dietary requirement In Sikhism, only vegetarian food is served in the Gurdwara, but Sikhs are not bound to be meat-free. The general consensus is that Sikhs are free to choose whether to adopt a meat diet or not. Orthodox Sikhs believe that once Amrit is taken, Sikhs are only prohibited from eating Kutha or ritually-slaughtered meat. Sikhs can eat meat as long as it is Jhatka meat and that eating meat does not go against the code of conduct of the Sikhs. Thus a Sikh cannot be excommunicated for eating meat. If for example a Sikhism is brought in to a English hospital and the service provider gives them meat as part of their dinner, depending on what the service user believes in this could cause a problem. The care provider should have some knowledge of the Sikhism dietary before providing food for the service user.

7. bibliography • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/rs/relationships/sikhloveandsexrev1.shtml • http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_languages_are_spoken_by_the_Sikh#ixzz1lJR7msTh • http://www.lensculture.com/hingley_images/hingley_2.jpg