Hindus form a significant proportion of society today, and healthcare professionals in all settings and locations need an awareness of their beliefs and cultural expectations, to communicate effectively and provide care in an appropriate manner. This book provides that information in a concise and practical form.

With a brief and cohesive overview of Hinduism, and a short examination of the population’s demographic diversity, the book explores issues such as language, dress, diet and festivals with emphasis on their practical relevance to healthcare professionals.

Considering on the health needs of Hindu patients at various life stages, the book focuses on birth and childhood, and adult issues related to marriage, family structure, contraception, abortion, infertility and adoption. It also enhances the reader’s understanding of Hindu approaches to death, to help medical and nursing staff offer care sensitive to the needs of Hindu patients – needs that extend well beyond the immediate and the physical, and encompass longer-term emotional and spiritual requirements.

* Hinduism: the tradition speaks for itself
* Social and demographic characteristics of Britain’s Hindu population
* The need for cultural sensitivity
* Birth and childhood customs
* Marriage and family Death and Bereavement