Journal of Transcultural Nursing

Nurses in New Zealand are being challenged to recognise and address racism in their practice. Yet, the implementation of cultural safety in nursing education has created tension within the profession and between nursing and the wider community. This article provides a brief overview of the findings of a hermeneutic study that explored the experience of nursing people from cultures other than one’s own. The notions prejudice, paradox, and possibility are argued to describe this phenomenon. As nurses negotiate the conflicts essential for ongoing development of their practice, the play of prejudice, paradox, and possibility is evident at intrapersonal and interpersonal levels as well as in relation to professional and other discourses. Nurses are challenged to continue their efforts to understand and move beyond the prejudices that otherwise preclude the exploration of new possibilities.

The purpose of this research was to explore the involvement in reproductive health of adult men in a low-income community in São Paulo City, Brazil. The ethnonursing research method was used and data were collected through interviews with seven key and eight general informants. Lack of common sex education was found and informants’ knowledge depended on their own families’ involvement and individual life experience with machismo. Informants’ behaviors and attitudes toward women were constructed by their own male-centered values. Leininger’s culture care modes were used to explain culturally meaningful nursing care actions and decisions.

Hwa-Byung (HB) has been categorized as a Korean culture-bound syndrome that refers to insidious, long-standing, serious discontent that is projected into the body and is manifested by numerous symptoms such as insomnia, fatigue, panic, palpitations, dyspnea, and others. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence rate of HB in Korean women, validate the predominant symptoms of HB, and validate the related sociodemographic factors and lifestyle factors that differentiate women with HB from those without HB. A total of 2,807 women ages 41 to 65 years were recruited from seven metropolitan areas and six provinces in Korea. The prevalence rate of women who designated themselves as having experienced HB was 4.95%. The rates were higher in women of low socioeconomic status, living in rural areas, among the divorced or separated, smokers, and drinkers. A set of 31 HB symptoms differentiated the potential HB women from the non-HB women.

The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of hope and generic caring practices to nurture hope among people of a rural village in the Dominican Republic. Ethnonursing methods were used to gather and analyze data from which a definition of hope for this group of people was developed: “Hope is an essential but dynamic life force that grows out of faith in God, is supported by relationships, resources and work, and results in the energy necessary to work for a desired future. Hope gives meaning and happiness.” The information obtained also demonstrated that hope interacts with nearly all domains in the Sunrise Model. Generic care practices discovered among this population included working together, advising each other to work hard, and sharing hope itself. Implications for further research are discussed.

Conducting intervention research with culturally diverse, underserved, and often hard to reach populations in naturalistic or field settings presents investigators with a number of practical challenges. This article describes four special challenges and strategies for dealing with them that clients, service providers, and researchers experienced in conducting a prevention intervention to reduce substance use and sexual risky behaviors with low-income Latina young women. The challenges are (a) building community partnerships; (b) developing interventions that are acceptable and relevant; (c) promoting successful recruitment, participation, and retention of participants; and (d) developing a diverse, cohesive, and committed research team and effective managerial information support systems.

This article describes the development and implementation of an educational strategy to enhance knowledge about transcultural nursing in a College of Nursing undergraduate program. Concepts of diversity and transcultural nursing were integrated into the entire undergraduate curriculum. This content was presented over six quarters in seminar courses throughout the undergraduate program. A team of faculty members developed this series of courses called “Nurse and Society” that included cultural diversity, ethics, professionalism, and policy as strands or threads woven through the courses. Based on faculty evaluations at the end of each course, most graduating students were aware of the need to provide culturally congruent care. However, there is a need to develop a sound programmatic evaluation that includes empirical outcomes of cultural competence among graduates.

Eritrean immigrants bring expectations and resources to meet the challenge of illness and death. This study, undertaken in cooperation with the Cross Cultural Health Care Program of Seattle, sought to learn about both the expectations and the resources. A literature search demonstrated that although Eritreans have much in common with Ethiopians, they must be seen as a separate people. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 2 Eritrean immigrants. Resulting tape transcriptions were studied to identify themes and values. Values included the importance of respect, the centrality of faith and of family, the use of herbs and home remedies, and the importance of visiting. Implications for health care within institutional and community settings were derived from these values with the help of Madeleine Leininger’s culture care theory.