Transcultural Nursing Essay

495 Words2 Pages
Transcultural Nursing Question 1 At the core of the Leininger’s transcultural nursing theory is an attempt to provide nursing care that is congruent or in harmony with the cultural beliefs, values, and lifestyle of the client. For example, an elderly man is having a degenerative arthritis. For years, this elderly man has been using traditional methods to manage his chronic pain. After his admission to an acute care setting, he brought with him remedies that have provided him comfort and relief in the past. To provide him culturally competitive care, the nurse can incorporate these home remedies into the care within the acute setting. Secondly, the nurse can talk to this elderly patient to willingly discard such traditional healing practices. In case such traditional practices are unsafe, the nurse can look for alternative comfort and pain relief strategies with the elderly man. A nurse can learn about a patient’s culture through conducting a cultural assessment. The first step in the assessment involves learning the meaning of illness in relation to the patient’s unique culture, such as what he/she thinks caused the problem. Secondly, the patient should determine the extent to which the patient is embedded in his or her traditional culture. Question 2 Non-verbal communication such as touch and body posture play an important role in the management of interpersonal relationships. It is also used to regulate conversation, and at times to communicate messages that are quite sensitive if communicated verbally. Non-verbal communication can also be used to express emotion, interpersonal attitudes, for self-presentation, and even for ritual-performance such as greetings (Maude, 2011, p. 95). For instance, while people from some cultures may feel uncomfortable with silence, those from other cultures may give such silence specific meanings. For example, in Japan,
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