Madeleine M.
Leininger Where: child guidance home, Midwestern US
Born: July 13, 1925 Sutton, Nebraska US
Educational background
Basic Nursing Education
School: St. Anthony School of Nursing,Denver
Colorado
Bachelor of Science
School: Benedictine College, Atchison Kansas
Honours: Doctor of humane letters (LhD)
Provided by: American academy of nursing in
Benedictine college
Masters of Science in Anthropology (Dr. of philosophy)
First nurse to earn a doctorate in Anthropology
School: University of Washington, Seattle
Nursing Metaparadigm on Leininger’s theory
People
Humans are universally caring beings who survive in a
diversity of cultures through their ability to provide the
universality of care in a variety of ways according to
different cultures, needs and settings.
Environment
Worldwide view, which is the perception of their life and
the world around them, social structure, and
environmental context
(Ex. Belief, health practices)
Environmental Framework: totality of an event, situation,
or experience.
Health
Represents belief, values and practices or particular
culture, health is both universal and diverse.
Need for nurses to have knowledge that is specific to
culture in which nursing is being practiced.
Nursing
Culturally-based nursing action:
1. Cultural preservation or maintenance: Retain
and or preserve relevant care values so that
clients can maintain their well-being, recover
from illness, or face handicaps and/or death.
2. Cultural care accommodation or negotiation-
Adapt or negotiate with the others for a
beneficial or satisfying health outcome
3. Cultural care repatterning or restructuring:
Records, change, or greatly modify client’s life
ways for a new, different and beneficial health
care pattern
Nursing action that best fits with the client’s culture
and thus reduce cultural stress and conflict between
client and caregiver.
The beginning of conceptualization of transcultural
nursing
When: mid 1950
Clients: disturbed children and their parents
 Observed recurrent behavioural differences
among children
Conclusion:
 Their differences had a cultural base
 Nurses need to understand their
patient’s culture and background in
order to provide variety in care
Transcultural theory in nursing (1960’s)
AKA: ethnonursing, coss-cultural nursing, culture care,
culture care diversity and universality
“Different cultures perceive, know, and practice care in
different ways, yet there are some commonalities about
care among all cultures of the world”
Central purpose: is to discover and explain diverse and
universal culturally based care factors influencing the
health, well-being, illness, or death of individuals or
groups.
Purpose and goal: is to use research findings to
provide culturally congruent, safe, and meaningful care
to clients of diverse or similar cultures.
Culture: learned, shared, and transmitted values, belief,
norm, and life ways of a particular group that guides their
thinking, decision, and action in patterned ways.
Cultural diversity: differences that can be found both
between and among different cultures.
Identifying cultural diversity avoids: Stereotyping
Cultural universality: commonalities that exist in
different cultures.
Purpose of knowing patient’s cultural background:
 Encounters with illness, suffering and death. To
heighten awareness of ways in which their own
faith system. Provides resources for
 To foster understanding, respect and
appreciation for the individuality and diversity of
patients beliefs, values, spirituality and culture
regarding illness, its meaning, cause, treatment,
and outcome.
 To strengthen in their commitment to
relationship-centered medicine that emphasizes
care of the suffering person rather than attention
simply more to the pathophysiology of disease,
and recognizes the physician as a dynamic
component of that relationship.
 To facilitate in recognizing the role of the
hospital chaplain and the patient's clergy as
partners in the health care team in providing
care for the patient.
 To encourage in developing and maintaining a
program of physical, emotional and spiritual self-
care.