THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NURSING

Madeleine Leininger
Prof. Melinda Tantoy | BSN – 1G | A.Y. 2022-2023 – Finals

CULTURE CARE DIVERSITY AND UNIVERSALITY THEORY

Madeleine Leininger

● Is universal across cultures but distinct with in each culture in a way that
represents the beliefs, values & practices of the particular culture….health is
both universal & divers

ENVIRONMENT
● Environmental framework – the totality of an event, situation, or
experience that gives meaning to human expressions, interpretations &
social interactions particularly physical, ecological & sociopolitical &/or
cultural settings
● Culture – centers on groups and the patterning of actions, thoughts and
decisions that occurs as the result of “learned, shared and transmitted
values, beliefs, norms and lifeways”.

MADELEINE LEININGER
Leininger’s definition of Theory
● Defines theory differently from other nursing theorists
● Theory is a systematic and creative way to discover knowledge about
something or to account for some vaguely know phenomenon
● Nursing theory must take into account the cultural beliefs, caring, behaviors,
and values of individuals, families, and groups to provide effective,
satisfying, and culturally congruent nursing care
METAPARADIGM
PERSON
● Is referred to as a human being
● Is caring and capable of being concerned about desires, welfare and
continued existence of others; although care of human beings is universal,
ways of caring vary across cultures
HEALTH
● Is viewed as a state of well-being that is culturally defined, valued, &
practiced and reflects the ability of individuals or groups to perform their daily
roles
● Includes health systems, health care practices, health patterns, and health
promotion & maintenance
NURSING
● Is defined as a learned humanistic art & science that focuses on
personalized behaviors, functions, & processes to promote and maintain
health or recovery from illness
● Uses 3 modes of action that are culturally based & thus consistent with the
needs & values of the client to deliver care in the manner best suited to a
client’s culture
○ Cultural care preservation/maintenance
○ Cultural care accommodation/negotiation
○ Cultural care repatterning/restructuring
CULTURE CARE DIVERSITY
● Leininger presented her assumptions which support her claim that “ different
cultures perceive, know & practice care in different ways, yet there are some
commonalities about care among all cultures of the world”
● Based on transcultural nursing model
● Transcultural nursing: a learned branch of nursing that focuses on the
comparative study & analysis of cultures as they apply to nursing and
health-illness practices, beliefs, and values
● Goal of Transcultural Nursing: to provide care that is congruent with
cultural values, beliefs, and practices

A.Y. 2022-2023 | EJAS

 CARE
● Refers to assisting, supporting, or enabling behaviors that ease or improve a
person’s condition
● Is essential for a person’s survival, development, and ability to deal with life’s
events
● Has different meanings in different cultures which can be determined by
examining the group’s view of the world, social structure, and language
CARING
● Refers to actions & activities directed toward assisting, supporting or
enabling another individual or group with evident or anticipated needs to
improve the human condition either to recover or face death.
CULTURE
● Refers to the learned, shared & transmitted values, beliefs, norms & lifeways
of a particular
● Guides thinking, decisions, and actions in specific ways
● Provides the basis for cultural values, which identify ways of thinking or
acting
● These values are usually held for a long time and help guide
decision-making in the culture
● Cultures exhibit both diversity and universality
○ Diversity - perceiving, knowing, and practicing care in different
ways
○ Universality - commonalities of care
CULTURAL CARE
● The subjectively and objectively obtained values, beliefs, and outlines of the
lifeways that assist, support, facilitate, or empower another individual/group
to maintain wellbeing, health and deal with illness, handicaps or death.
CULTURAL CARE DIVERSITY
● Cultural care diversity: different meanings, patterns, values, beliefs or
symbols of care within concepts that are related in supporting, assisting
human care(such a role of sick person)
CULTURAL CARE UNIVERSALITY
● Cultural care universality: commonalities or similarities in meanings,
patterns, values, beliefs, or symbols of care that is observed among many
cultures & reflect assistive ways to help people
WORLD VIEW
● Refers to the outlook of a person or group on the world or their universe to
form a picture or a value perception about their life or world around them
● Consists of social structure and environmental context
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
● Social Structure: organizational factors of a particular culture (e.g., religion,
economics, education), and how these factors give meaning and order to the
culture.
ENVIRONMENTAL STRUCTURE
● Environmental Context: refers to the totality of an event, situation, or
experience that gives meaning to human expressions, interpretations &
social interactions particularly physical, ecological, sociopolitical & or cultural
settings.
ETHNOHISTORY
● Past facts, events and experiences of individuals, groups, and various
cultures and institutions that are mainly people centered and that explains,
interprets human lifeways within particular cultural trends.
GENERIC (FOLK OR LAY) CARE SY
● Refers to culturally learned & transmitted , indigenous (or traditional) folk
(community & home based) knowledge & skills used to provide assistive,
supportive, enabling acts toward another individual, group or institution with
evident needs to improve a human lifeway or health condition (well-being) or
to deal with handicaps & death situations.
PROFESSIONAL CARE SYSTEM
● Refers to formally taught, learned & transmitted professional care, health,
illness, wellness & related knowledge & practice skills that prevail in
professional institutions usually with multidisciplinary personnel to give
service to others
A.Y. 2022-2023 | EJAS
 3 MODES OF NURSING ACTION
1. Cultural care preservation or maintenance - refers to those assistive,
supporting, facilitative or enabling professional actions & decisions that help
people of a particular culture to retain and/or preserve relevant care values
so that they can maintain their well-being , recover from illness or face
handicaps and /or death.
2. Cultural care accommodation or negotiation - refers to those assistive,
supporting, facilitative or enabling professional actions & decisions that help
people of a designated culture to adapt to or to negotiate with others for a
beneficial or satisfying health outcome with professional care providers
3. Cultural care restructuring or repatterning - refers to those assistive,
supporting, facilitative or enabling professional actions & decisions that help
clients change or greatly modify their lifeways for new, different & beneficial
health care patterns while respecting the client’s cultural values & beliefs &
still providing a beneficial or healthier lifeway before the changes were laid
out with the client.

A.Y. 2022-2023 | EJAS