Transcultural nursing courses online: implications for culturally competent care

Cultural diversity must be taken seriously by both faculty and students, and requires action by both parties for successful integration into online learning. Limited diversity in the nursing workforce or student population creates a need for learning cultural competence. Online transcultural nursing courses meet this learning need and provide opportunities for a variety of students and faculty participation from around the world. Successful online learning experiences can contribute to the provision of culturally competent nursing care.     

The ethical dimensions of delivering culturally congruent nursing and health care

This article discusses the ethical parameters of giving culturally congruent care to individual patients by health care professionals. Leininger's Cultural Care Diversity and Universality theory (Leininger, 1995) is used to demonstrate the importance of culture in a person's life and Husted's and Husted's (1995) bioethical theory is used to create a mind-set of ethical interaction and to direct the analysis of a bioethical dilemma involving cultural differences between persons of the same culture, a depressed Mexican-American woman and her husband. The differences between transculturalism and multiculturalism are explored. We defend the position that a patient's culture is only a useful tool in caring for a patient if the individual person is made the primary focus of care.     

Towards the goal of providing culturally sensitive care: principles upon which to build nursing curricula

Nursing has, in recent years, strongly argued that an individual's culture influences how illness events are perceived and managed. Nursing has also identified the need for nurses to provide culturally sensitive care. The literature, however, provides very limited direction for the integration of such concepts into nursing curricula. In this paper, the author presents a theoretical perspective on culture that addresses cultural beliefs and values but also extends to consider caring and programmes of care delivery within the broader social context. Using examples from the literature, the author identifies knowledge and skills deemed essential if nurses are to be capable of working effectively with individual clients and at the level of programme design and delivery.     

Factors that influence critical care nurses' intentions to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among critical care nurses' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims. The provision of culturally congruent care is contingent on understanding nurses' motivational influences for providing culture care. Significant relationships among critical care nurses' behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, control beliefs, intentions, and demographic variables supported the need for culture-specific debriefing sessions, underscored the importance of collaborative practice and interdisciplinary learning models, and established an evidence-based foundation for the design of culturally informed approaches to nursing education and service.     

Aphasia: providing better nursing care.

The ability to communicate affects the total person and penetrates nearly every aspects of living. To best assist those persons experiencing language loss, the nurse needs to gain basic knowledge about the types of aphasia and about techniques to guide these persons in regaining communication skills that promote self-care. For the aphasic, relearning each small step in communication is a triumph. It is hoped that we can aid these individuals in experiencing many triumphs.     

Lessons learned: providing culturally competent care in a nurse-managed center.

The author discusses the conceptualization and implementation of a university and community sponsored nursing care center to meet the needs of the community. A case study is given illustrating the cogent points dealt with in the article.     

Prerequisites to providing culturally competent care to Mexican migrant farmworkers: a Delphi study

The purpose of this study was to identify prerequisites to providing culturally competent care to Mexican migrant farmworkers. A national sample of nurse experts who worked with Mexican migrant farmworkers (N = 93 [50.2%] in round 1; and N = 142 [54.8%] in round 2) participated during the period of August 1998 to April 1999. Using a two-round modified Delphi method, a list of 89 items was generated. The nurse experts agreed that the 89 items identified were prerequisites to cultural competence, showing consensus rates of 85.4% in round 1 and 88.8% in round 2. The prerequisites to culturally competent care identified by participants encompassed caring, cultural sensitivity, cultural knowledge (general/specific), cultural abilities/skills, and others (bi-cultural status; cultural and learning experiences).     

Transcultural nursing care of Arab Muslims

Nursing care of the Arab Muslim client can be extremely rewarding providing the nurse is knowledgeable about important features of the culture. Knowledge of the complex social structure, world view and cultural context features is critical in promoting a sense of care for these clients. The centrality of religion and the family are closely interrelated and reflect many aspects of health care. This article has presented an overview of some of these features. The importance of culturological assessment for each client and family cannot be over emphasized, since cultural background, education and degree of acculturation will lead to variation in these patterns. The use of Leininger's theory and modes of nursing interventions can be most helpful as a basis for decision-making processes related to care of the Arab Muslim client. Only through knowledge, respect and sensitivity can nurses be effective in meeting the goals of the theory which is culturally congruent care to all clients of diverse cultures.     

Transcultural care values and nursing practices of Philippine-American nurses.

The purpose of this ethnonursing research was to discover, explicate, and analyze the nursing care values and caregiving practices of Philippine nurses working in an American hospital context. The study, which was part of a larger study, was conceptualized within Leininger's theory of culture care. Consistent with the tenets of the theory, a brief overview of Philippine world view, social structure, culture, and ethnohistory was provided. Qualitative analysis of observation-participation and interview data revealed a major care theme of obligation to care. This care theme was supported by three care patterns which were: 1) expressed seriousness and dedication to work, 2) attentiveness to physical care as comfort, and 3) respect and patience as caring modalities. The study also showed that Philippine-American nurses attempted to achieve cultural care congruence by preserving some generic care values and practices, by accommodating to some of the host professional culture's values and practices, and by restructuring or repatterning less serviceable values. Implications for transcultural nursing education, practice, and research were discussed.     

Practical strategies for providing culturally sensitive, ethical care in developing nations.

Providing health care in developing nations results in cultural and ethical challenges for health care professionals. The authors' intent is to raise readers' awareness of how to maintain an ethical and culturally sensitive approach to practice in developing nations. Four practical approaches to ethical decision-making, developed from the literature and praxis, in conjunction with traditional moral theory and guidelines from professional and international organizations are discussed. Ethical multiculturalism, a view that combines universalism and multiculturalism undergirds culturally appropriate and ethically responsive decisions.     

Innovative approach in rehabilitation nursing: providing primary care to tertiary care patients

In 1998 health care legislation in Ontario changed and allowed Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioners the possibility to expand their practice. At a rehabilitation centre, where spinal cord injured patients would seek primary health care services, a new amalgamated role was implemented to meet those needs. This article will described the advanced practice role that was developed, define the scope of practice, and demonstrate an innovative approach to service delivery. The role serves as a concrete link between primary health care services and tertiary care patients needs.     

Ethnopharmacology: understanding how ethnicity can affect drug response is essential to providing culturally competent care

Ethnopharmacologic research has revealed that ethnicity significantly affects drug response. Genetic or cultural factors, or both, may influence a given drug's pharmacokinetics (its absorption, metabolism, distribution, and elimination) and pharmacodynamics (its mechanism of action and effects at the target site), as well as patient adherence and education. In addition, the tremendous variation within each of the broader racial and ethnic categories defined by the U.S. Census Bureau (categories often used by researchers) must be considered. Nurses need to become knowledgeable about drugs that are likely to elicit varied responses in people with different ethnic backgrounds, as well as the potential for adverse effects. The existing ethnopharmacologic research focuses primarily on psychotropic and antihypertensive agents, as does this article. Cultural assessment of every patient is vital; thus Leininger's Sunrise Model and Giger and Davidhizar's Transcultural Assessment Models are briefly described as well.