Intercultural Approaches in Nursing

Subject: Nursing
Pages: 1
Words: 458
Reading time:
2 min
Study level: Master

Overview of the Middle-Range Theory

The person who first drew attention to the ethnic and cultural peculiarities of caring for patients of different nationalities, races, and religions was a nurse from America, Madeleine Leininger. She became the founder of the theory of diversity and the universality of cultural care (Lenardt et al., 2021). The theory formulated by Leininger is based on the application of anthropology in healthcare. This approach is the main field of nursing, which focuses on the comparative study and analysis of various cultures and subcultures of the world. The research and analysis concern the values of care, expression, beliefs, and health and disease. Thus, intercultural nursing in its approaches goes beyond the simple fact of applying formal nursing knowledge. Professionals had to have specific ideas about anthropology and use them in their tasks.

The Grand Theory the Middle-Range Theory May Have Been Derived From

This theory could be derived from the grand theory of Florence Nightingale, Notes on Nursing. According to her theory, nurses had to have unique skills, different from the skills of doctors. Leininger also determined that when interacting and providing care to foreigners, special skills are needed beyond simple professionalism (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2019). Thus, the theory aims to ensure that nurses learn what the patient’s world is like and pay attention to their internal point of view, observing adequate ethics.

The Critical Nature of the Relationship Between Conceptual Models of Nursing and Middle-Range Nursing Theories

Suppose all the theories and models of nursing created and applied are compared. In that case, it is possible to safely state that the desire to show the phenomenon of nursing and justify its fundamental difference from other professions was common to all researchers (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2019). In all other respects, opinions differ, particularly concerning the terminology used, the types of theories and their number, structure, and content, as well as the methodology of theory development.

The Specific Nursing Questions the Middle-Range Theory Addresses

According to the theory, an intercultural nurse should receive regulated discipline exercises. In addition, the nurse should be able to apply the concepts of transculturality in the treatment of patients (Lenardt et al., 2021). This theory implies that the medical care provided should correspond to patients’ cultural beliefs. It is assumed that the result will improve in such cases and that patients will respond better to the treatment received.

The Applicability of the Middle-Range Theory in the Current Practice

This middle-level theory is applicable in current practice since a wide variety of races and cultures interact with each other in the modern world. It is necessary to take into account cultural characteristics, traditions, and rituals to provide effective medical care, especially in the contemporary world, when races and cultures closely coexist.

References

Lenardt, M. H., Michel, T., Betiolli, S. E., Seima, M. D., Baran, F. D. P., & Brito, C. D. S. (2021). Production of knowledge based on the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality: documental research. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 74. Web.

McFarland, M. R., & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2019). Leininger’s theory of culture care diversity and universality: An overview with a historical retrospective and a view toward the future. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 30(6), 540-557. Web.