Lecture 6

Theoretical Foundations of
Transcultural Nursing
 Learning objectives
1) Explain the historical origins of transcultural nursing with
special emphasis on its roots in anthropology

2) Critically analyze the need for transcultural nursing in

contemporary society.

3) Critically analyze prevailing nursing paradigms and nursing

theories from a transcultural nursing perspective.

4) Identify resources available in transcultural nursing and health

care
 Introduction
• During the past 6 decades transcultural nursing founders Dr.
Mdeleine M.leininger and thousands of other nurses from around
the world have worked diligently to establish transcultural nursing
as a formal area of academic study and practice.

• since its initial conception in the 1950s to its formal creation as a

specialty and new discipline within the profession in the 1960s
and 1970s a substantial and important body of transcultural
theoretical, research, and evidence based knowledge has been

generated by nurse scholars on every continent.

 Transcultural Nursing
• The term of transcultural nursing is sometimes used
interchangeably with cross-cultural intercultural or
multicultural nursing.

• In analyzing the Latin derivations of the prefixes

associated with these terms, you will notice that trans
means across, inter means between, and multi means
many.
 The goals of Transcultural Nursing
1- Nursing has been to prepare a new generation of nurses who
would be knowledgeable, sensitive, competent and safe to care
for people with different or similar life ways, values, beliefs,
and practices in meaningful explicit, and beneficial ways.

2- To develop a scientific and humanistic body of knowledge in order

to provide culture-specific and culture-universal nursing care
practices to individuals, families, groups, and communities from
diverse backgrounds.
Important ideas to be understood about trans-cultural
nursing such as the following:
1- Care needs to be systematically studied to learn about human
care (caring) in diverse and similar cultures in the world and
environments.

2- Nurses need to be knowledgeable about their own cultural care

heritage and of biases, beliefs, and prejudices to work
effectively with clients.

3-Nurses need to use transculture-specific and comparative

knowledge to guide caring practices for culturally congruent
care.
4-A focus on cultural care competencies for diverse cultures and
universals (commonalities) is essential.

5-Nurses should seek comprehensive, holistic, and comparative

culture care phenomena .

6-Maintianing an open learning-discovery process about care and

culture is imperative.

7-Nurses need creative ways to provide culturally congruent care

practices.
 The Importance of Transcultural Nursing

Leininger (1995) cites eight factors that influenced her to establish

trans cultural nursing:

1) There was a marked increase in the migration of people within

and between countries worldwide. Transcultural nursing is
needed because of the growing diversity that characterizes our
national and global populations In its broadest sense.
2-There has been a rise in multicultural identities (with people
expecting their cultural beliefs) values and lifeway's to be
understood and respected by nurses and other health care
providers.

3-The increased use of health care technology sometimes conflicts

with cultural values of clients such as Amish prohibitions against
using certain apnea monitors and other such health care
technologic devices in the home.

4-Worldwide there are cultural conflicts clashes and violence that

have an impact health care as more cultures interact with one
another.
5-There was an increase in the number of people traveling and
working in many different parts of the world.

6-There was an increase in legal suits resulting from cultural conflict,

negligence, ignorance and imposition of health care practices.

7-There has been a rise in feminism and gender issues with new
demands on health care systems to meet the needs of women and
children.

8-There has been an increased demand for community and culturally

based health care services in diverse environmental contexts.
 History of Transcultural Nursing
• In the 1950s) Dr. Madeleine M. Leininger noted cultural differences
between patients and nurses while working with emotionally
disturbed children.

• This clinical experience led her in 1954 to study cultural

differences in the perceptions of care and in 1965 she earned a
doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of
Washington (Leininger) 1995; Leininger & McFarland) 2002) 2006;
Reynolds & Leininger 1993 ).
• Leininger recognized that one of anthropology's most important
contributions to nursing was the realization that health and
illness states are strongly influenced by culture.
• To help develop test and organize the emerging body of
knowledge in transcultural nursing.
• It is necessary to have a specific conceptual framework from
which various theoretical state can emerge.
• Leininger's Sunrise Model is based on the concept of cultural
care and shows three major nursing modalities that guide nursing
judgments and activities to provide culturally congruent care-that
is, care that is beneficial and meaningful to the people.
• It is necessary to have a specific conceptual framework from
which various theoretical state can emerge.
• Leininger's Sunrise Model is based on the concept of cultural care
and shows three major nursing modalities that guide nursing
judgments and activities to provide culturally congruent care-that
is care is beneficial and meaningful to the people.
 Standards for Transcultural Nursing

• The Standards for Transcultural Nursing were developed to foster

excellence in transcultural nursing practice, provide criteria for
the evaluation of transcultural nursing, create a tool for teaching
and learning.

• Each of the eight trans cultural nursing standards is accompanied

by rationale, process criteria, and outcome criteria.
 The Eight Standards are :
1- Theoretical Foundations of Transcultural Nursing.

2- Cultural Information Gathering.

3- Caring and Healing Systems.

4- Cultural Health Patterns and Caring Practices.

5- Health Care Planning.

6- Evaluation.

7- Research.

8- Professional Development. These eight standards were

developed to assist nurses in providing culturally competent and
culturally congruent care.
 Envisioning the Global Scope of Transcultural Nursing

• To help nurses envision the scope of transcultural nursing

developed the logo with the message "Many Cultures One World"
and predicted“.

• That the culture care needs of people will be met by nurses

prepared in transcultural nursing."

• This logo offered a new challenge and different vision for nurses
to function as trans cultural nurses in the future.