Madeleine Leininger's Cultural Care Theory Of Diversity And Universality

Madeleine Leininger is the founder of transcultural nursing (Alligood, 2014; Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2015). Transcultural nursing is a learned practice focusing on the beliefs and values of patients’ culture in order to provide effective nursing care, so that patients’ can maintain and/or regain their health. She discovered that there was insufficient understanding of cultural factors among her staff. Consequently, she became concerned that nursing decisions and actions were not effectively helping their patients. During this time she posed multiple questions to herself and colleagues about cultural differences amidst their patients and therapy outcomes. She uncovered that very few of her colleagues were knowledgeable of cultural factors and its effect on patients’ health outcomes. It was not until after she spent two years studying and experiencing the differences in culture of two different villages, that she developed the Culture …show more content…
Moreover, culture is what shape each individual into the person they become (Rew, 2015). At the same time, there are multiple cultures from which each person is shaped. For example, the culture in which they were brought up, where they work, and attend school all influence our views and behaviors. Therefore, culture is a crucial element to consider when providing patient care.
Conclusion
Leininger’s Cultural Care Theory of Diversity and Universality aim to improve and provide culturally congruent care by tailoring patient care to fit the patient’s need. This theory holds that values, beliefs, and practices are influenced by ones’ worldview, language, philosophy, religion, kinship, social, political, legal, educational, economic, technological, ethnohistorical, and environmental context (Alligood, 2014). As a result, patient care should be holistic, individualizing care plan to fit the needs of each