Leininger's Cultural Care Diversity and Universality - Research Paper Example

The paper also describes how research, empirical testing and knowledge development enables the modern and future nursing care to be culturally congruent and thus effective. a). Concepts And Subconcepts of The Theory Leininger’s theory focuses in explaining, describing and thus predicting the similarities and differences of nursing practice in relation to the conceptualization of the patient’s culture. Therefore it can be said that the main focus of the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality is the care of patients and culture (McFarland and Eipperle, 2008, p. 48). Moreover, the theory demonstrates the methods of nursing approach which aims at taking care of patients with an understanding of their culture.

The application of this theory in nursing is through the Trans-cultural Nursing Model where patient care by nurses is designed in a way that it is congruent to the beliefs, practices and values of the patients (Leininger and McFarland, 2006, p. 57). Leininger’s theory illustrates that since culture shapes every individual, it becomes very important for a nurse especially during medical care. The Trans-cultural Nursing Model therefore enables nurses to view their patients in terms of their beliefs and practices so that they would understand them sufficiently and hence facilitate care (Vandenberg, 2010, p. 238). The nursing care outcome in a trans-cultural patient care is a high level of patient well being (Ekman and Emami, 2007, p. 417). Nurses are mandated to be aware that patients are different because of the unique cultures.

The contemporary society which is characterized by globalization and enhanced communication technology has enhanced migration and as a result, societies are more diverse with people from various cultural backgrounds. This reveals that The Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality is very relevant in nursing practice throughout the world. Because patients and their families expect their beliefs and values to be respected it becomes compelling for nurses to apply a trans-cultural approach in nursing practice so that patients are cared for in the most appropriate way (Leininger and McFarland, 2006, p. 59). Therefore cultural competence among nurses is regarded as a very valuable skill which differentiates one form of nursing from another.

Planning nursing care requires the understanding of the patient’s values and beliefs so that various cultural phenomena are taken into consideration. The cultural aspects which are described within the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality include family, social groups, space, communication, genetic variations, spirituality, time orientation and health traditions. All these aspects must be understood by the nurse in order to provide relevant, appropriate and desirable care to the patient and as a result avoid misunderstanding, conflicts or law suits that would result from the dissatisfaction of the health consumers, families or friends.

In trans-cultural nursing research, empirical testing and knowledge development is enabled by understanding individual cultures in relation to the social categories (Ekman and Emami, 2007, p. 418). Such research promotes the knowledge of nurses on cultures and thus enhanced current nursing practice and the future generation patient care. Additionally, knowledge develop