Page 307 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

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discovering the essence of care for a partic-
Leininger’s Theory of ular culture and puts forth the theory of cul-
CuLTure Care DiversiTy ture care worldwide as necessary research
for epistemic knowledge for the profession
anD universaLiTy of nursing. The theory has three theoreti-
cal modes: cultural care preservation and/
or maintenance, cultural care accommoda-
The theory of Culture Care Diversity and tion and/or negotiation, and cultural care
Universality is derived from the disciplines repatterning or restructuring (Leininger,
of nursing and anthropology. Madeline 2006). The three modes were developed
Leininger conceptualized the theory in the based on Leininger’s experiences with using
mid 1950s as a way to bridge the gap between culture care knowledge to assist clients in
nursing care and culture (Leininger, 2006). several Western and non-Western cultures.
Leininger is credited with establishing trans- According to Leininger, the modes are care
cultural nursing and coining the term “cul- centered and use both emic (generic or folk
turally congruent care” (Leininger, 2006; care) and etic (professional care) knowledge.
McFarland, 2006). According to Leininger, Culture care diversity points to the differ-
culture care is the broadest holistic means ences in meanings, values, patterns, and
of knowing, explaining, interpreting, and lifeways that are related to assistive, sup-
predicting nursing care phenomena to guide portive, or enabling human care expressions,
nursing practice. Culturally congruent care within or between collectives while culture
is beneficial care and occurs only when the care universality points to the common, sim-
culture care values, expressions, or patterns ilar, or dominant uniform care meanings
of the client (individual, group, family, or (Leininger, 1995, 2006).
community) are known and used in appro- Leininger defines health as “a state of
priate and meaningful ways by the nurse well being that is culturally defined, valued,
(Leininger, 1995, 2002, 2006). and practiced, and which reflects the ability of
Leininger established the theory of cul- individuals (or groups) to perform their daily
ture care to account for and explain much role activities in culturally expressed, bene-
of the phenomena related to transcultural ficial, and patterned lifeways” (Leininger,
nursing. The purpose of the theory is to dis- 1991, p. 47). Care is described as being essen-
cover human care diversities and univer- tial to curing, healing, health, well-being,
salities, whereas the goal of the theory is to and survival. Care is also presented as the
improve and provide culturally congruent dominant and unifying feature of nursing
care (McFarland, 2006). The components of and one of the most important concepts of
the theory are depicted in the Sunrise Model. transcultural nursing (Leininger, 1985, 1995,
Although Leininger provides orientational 2006). Nursing is presented as a transcul-
definitions for the concepts in the model, she tural humanistic and scientific profession
discourages the use of operational defini- and discipline, whose central purpose is to
tions in the study of culture care (Leininger, serve human beings worldwide. The eth-
2006). Leininger supports exploring and nonursing research method was designed to