Nursing Practice and Culture

¶ … Culture Care Universality and Diversity Leininger conceptualized the theory of care was developed in the 1950s and provided a way to bridge a culture and nursing care. "Leininger theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality" (Garmon 2011 p 1) is derived from the understanding the fields of culture and anthropology and is credited for her contribution to the nursing theory by establishing the transcultural concept in the nursing care. Typically, culture care is a holistic method of understanding, interpreting, explaining, and predicting care for the nursing practice.

According to Leininger, culturally congruent care had been missing in the nursing practice and knowledge. Thus, a creative process of reformulation and integration of cultural practice is very critical for the development of nursing practice and knowledge. Leininger holds that a cultural care provides the most important and broadest means to explain, study and predict the nursing care practice. To discover patterns, and meaning of care in the nursing practice, it is very critical to integrate the cultural congruent in the nursing care practice.

The objective of this paper is to explore the theory of culturally congruent and care diversity. Concepts and Sub-Concepts of the Theory Leininger's developed a theoretical framework based on her nursing experience where she realized that many disturbed children from diverse cultural backgrounds faced a challenge in receiving a quality healthcare because a limited research has been conducted on the method to integrate culture in caring in a health institution.

According to Leininger, it was important for nursing professionals to appreciate and recognize a culture in healing, in healthcare treatment, and caring process. While theorists attempted to assist patients using psychoanalytic ideas and other mental ideas to assist patients after the World War II, however, the practice was woefully inadequate to assist children and adults from different cultural background receiving quality healthcare. (Leininger, 2011). Leininger developed a culture of universality and care diversity with a focus on health and nursing care.

She envisaged the concept of transcultural nursing as an important aspect of nursing care and argues that care in nursing is a powerful tool for healing and wellbeing. The theory of culture care universality and diversity identify culture care value as the appropriate meaningful way to assist nurses to deliver the quality care for nurses. The theory identifies universalities and human care diversities as the tools to provide and improve cultural congruent care.

According to Leininger, health is the state of well-being, which is culturally valued, defined, and practiced that reflects the ability of groups or individuals to perform their daily activities in culturally beneficial, expressed, and patterned lifeways. Leininger further argues that care is very critical to health, curing, healing and survival. Based on the importance of the theory, Leininger's theory has been applied in the clinical care setting for over the past 40 years and has been valued by health professionals and nurses.

The theory is divided into three theoretical models: cultural care accommodation, cultural care preservation, and cultural care restructuring. Leininger develops these modes based on her experiences when assisting the clients from different cultural background and use the cultural care knowledge. (Fitzpatrick, & Kazer, (2011) Leininger maintains that culture care diversity has different meanings that include patterns, lifeways and values related to assistive and supportive human care expressions. After more than 6 years of building theory, Leininger develops a nursing theory highly, relevant families, groups, persons, and institutions.

The concepts universality and diversity have been integrated into the nursing theory. Leininger believes knowledge of culture is essential for patients' care, which has become nursing thinking. Thus, the knowledge of culture-based cares is essential for nurses to assist people in the diverse culture who face health difficulties. According to Leininger (2011) the transcultural nursing, culture and culture care theory are interrelated, and they are essential for people wellbeing and health.

When nursing professionals are able to integrate the therapeutic congruent in their nursing practice, they will be able to deliver meaningful care for people of all culture. Typically, therapeutic care and congruent care occurs when culture care beliefs, values, patterns, and expressions are used meaningfully, and appropriately for people in a diverse culture. (Leininger, 1988). 2.Generality of the theory and Its Application Across Culture The theory identifies care as a concrete and abstract phenomenon supportive, actions, practice and attitudes used to assist people achieving a meaningful well-being.

Care is the major tenet of the theory assisting in enhancing health care across diverse culture. On the other hand, culture is defined as shared, learned, beliefs, and transmitted values from one generation to the other generation. Culture is a blueprint that guides a human action. Transcultural assists nurses to advanced their knowledge in culture and care as well as integrating culture care in the clinical practice. A culturally congruent refers to culturally-based knowledge, decisions, and acts used meaningfully and appropriately to prevent disabilities and illness.

On the other hand, care diversity is the variabilities or differences among human being with respect patterns, culture care meanings, and lifeways that are beneficial to care. Thus, the transcultural nursing has become critical in the contemporary healthcare practice because of an increase in the multicultural population. In the United States, ever increasing the number of diverse population from different cultural backgrounds pose a challenge for nursing professional in implementing holistic and individualized care for patients.

Based on the challenges, it is critical for nurses to appreciate the cultural differences within a professional setting. Moreover, it is pertinent, for nurses to acquire skills and knowledge in culturally competent, which helps nurses to enhance patient's satisfaction. Typically, more than 30% of the U.S. population are from different cultural background making the U.S. be a significant multicultural environment. Department of Commerce (2010) projects that people other than non-Hispanic whites will comprise 50% of the U.S. population by the year 2050. The present U.S.

records show that the U.S. population is rapidly growing in diversity, however, 90% of the registered practicing nurses are Caucasians while 2% of the registered nurses are Hispanics. Thus, application of the culture care universality and diversity is very critical for the nursing practice in the United States to deliver a quality care for patients. Thus, it is very critical for nurses to be culturally competent having a sound knowledge of diverse.