Cultural Care Theory

Leininger’s Theory of Cultural Care
Predicted in the late 1950’s, Madeleine Leininger saw that not only nursing, but health care in general would be global, not just local (Perry & Potter, 2017). Leininger quickly recognized the importance of caring in the profession of nursing. Throughout her observations while working as a nurse, Leininger identified an absence of cultural and care knowledge. She saw this as the lacking element to a nurse's understanding of many aspects related to patient care. Leininger's theory of cultural care was created to provide culturally compatible nursing care. The central goal of Leininger's theory is to be able to provide care to patients regardless of their culture, by safely integrating the patients cultural values, beliefs, and traditions, into the standard plan of care. Within every cultural group there is an extensive range of beliefs, traditions, and even healing practices and ideas of the
An example given by Daniel A. Busher Betancourt (2015), from Cleveland University, was one involving a Vietnamese family and their culture. The family’s child passed away and the entire extended family accompanied him at the emergency department. Confusing the nurses and doctors, the family covered his head with a white sheet. The hospital staff were especially perplexed because of the number of mourning family members present. A nurse who was aware of cultural care would have known that this scenario was a spiritual tradition that is performed by Vietnamese in times of family hardships. This scenario demonstrates that although it may seem easier to ignore culturally specific needs of patients, nurses can provide appropriate care and have higher patient satisfaction by having an open mind to the many diverse needs of patients based on their specific