Cross-Cultural Hospital Care as Experienced by Mi’kmaq Clients

The hospitalization experiences of members of a Mi’kmaq, First Nation Community in New Brunswick, Canada, were examined to understand cultural sensitivity from their perspectives. Interpretive interactionism, a qualitative methodology, guided the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 participants from the Big Cove First Nation Community. Recurring themes in their narratives revolved around understanding. Participants often felt misunderstood by caregivers in a way that made them feel lessened as persons. They also had difficulty understanding the hospital milieu and felt that they were strangers in it. Each, however, had experienced valued encounters with at least one caregiver when they felt understood. They felt these caregivers had been kind to them, accepted the Mi’kmaq custom of family visiting, and treated them as social equals. Compassion and a nondiscriminatory attitude were more important than cultural knowledge in this context in which the caregivers’culture rather than the care recipients’ culture predominated.