An Intercultural Nursing Perspective Case Study

Case 1. Transcultural Nursing

Transcultural nursing is the type of nursing that focuses on cultures that are relative cultural care, nursing, and health. This type of nursing observes several traditional and cultural factors that influence the way patients and nurses conduct their practice. Transcultural nursing aims at providing specialized care to the increasing cultural environment. Patients vary in different ways, and some of these differences are due to many factors such as personality, age, socioeconomic class, education, and culture. Most health professionals must device several ways to treat their patients in order to avoid misunderstandings and provide better health care to all. The main reason behind this is that in most cases the cultural differences between patients and doctors are common and may have implications for their clinical encounter.

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The case of a Chinese woman who had given birth in a hospital and embarked on her cultural practices, such as eating a given kind of food and not bathing for a certain period of time. In the Chinese culture this can be referred to the lying-in period, but from the general practice point of view, can be referred to diverse cultural practices. Most of these practices are assumptions and perceptions but very important to those who observe them. The Chinese culture believes that if a member of their society violates the given practices, she or he may fall ill or be susceptible to the outside forces (Hansen, 2004). It is, therefore, crucial for healthcare practitioners to learn on how to tolerate most of the diverse cultural practices in order to attend to all patients effectively. Embracing these practices makes it easier for both parties to work together well without any prejudice and form of discrimination. Cultural practices are powerful aspects that define individuals and their way of life.

Understanding all patients is hard but very important to both the patients and practitioners. In most cases, patients report their illness differently, and to understand their behavior, the practitioner has to become familiar with the patient's background. Some countries such as the United States consider this as diversity in healthcare, which involves compromising some of the given health guidelines to suit the presented culture. The fact behind the patients from the culturally different background is that they have their way of beliefs in both sickness and treatment. These groups of patients have their ways of analyzing and communicating what they feel. A diverse background patient believes in tradition as the causes of some diseases, which might contradict with the scientific proofs, therefore, creating disparity in the way of diagnosis. Another fact about this kind of patients is that they are less likely to receive healthcare attention than the mainstream patients are. One of the reasons behind this is the difference in the beliefs and scientific realities. Secondly, is the lack of encounter and interaction between the patients and mainstream practitioners. This has caused discrimination of the culturally diverse patients. The relevant course for this kind of practice is transcultural nursing.

Case 2. Developmental Theories

Developmental theories are schools of thought that divide human development into different stages, which are categorized by differences in behavior. These theories give different ways through which an individual's physical and psychological development progress through life. Fowler's faith developmental theory gives a framework of understanding the concepts of evolution and the higher being. God is believed to influence the personal growth characteristics such as values, relationship with others and personal beliefs. This theory focuses on the human faith, which is a concern with cognitive development and moral development of the human life. Daniel Levine came up with a theory that focuses on the development of humans through seasons of life theory. These seasons identifies stages of growth that take place from childhood to adulthood. Levinson's theory comprises of sequences and stages that define the seasons and changes.

Sal Franco is now 74 years old, which means he has lived full cycle of the six developmental stages of the human spiritual growth as stipulated by Fowler and Levinson's theory of development. At the age of 74 years, Sal is considered old and reconciling his life with the events during his young and adulthood. At the age of early adulthood from 22 to 28 years, Sal was faced with the choices of making initial decisions in his life, which included love, friendship, occupation, and lifestyle. At this stage, Sal was heavily involved in clubbing and alcohol indulgence as a lifestyle of his choice; it is also the stage at which he started his business as an occupation of choice. This is also the stage where an individual develops a sense of identity and meaning in their personal and spiritual life. At the age of 28 to 45, is considered to be a stage where major changes take place in life both spiritually and mentally (Fowler & Dell, 2006). Sal had attained this stage and got married and other major decisions such as seeking for economic stability. Middle adulthood occurs from the age of 40 to 65, during this time, Sal had little or completely no biological capacity, but experienced increased social responsibility through desires to travel and spend more free time with his wife and family. The age of 60 and above represents an old age where a person retires from most activities in life and engages in a final phase of life. Sal finds himself at this stage lonely, stressed and struggling with several illnesses acquired in the initial stages of his life as a result of decisions made and his past lifestyle. Most individuals at this stage just like Sal, live a disabled and assisted living. To attain the universalizing faith in spiritual development, Sal did not have much of people who count as his inner circle was depleted due to the fact he was busy through life doing business and hence accumulated no friends at all. Besides, Sal never had time to attend church or any social place. The course competency in this field is social therapy/psychology.

Case 3. Person and Environmental Theory

The person-environment theory is a practice guiding principle that investigates studying and understanding individual's behavior in connection with the environment they reside in and interact with. The theory defines the relationship between some individual and environmental characteristics. An individual's characteristics could be personality, biological or psychological needs. The environmental characteristics could include cultural values, the social environment, or other close persons' characteristics.

Dave has been involved in alcohol drinking because one, his father used to drink, and so Dave emulated his characteristics. Secondly, the work environment presents a nice opportunity for him to drink because his friends have a great influence on him. Therefore, the environment makes Dave correspond to its dimensions. In most cases, individuals who are affected by their environment tend to pay allegiance to the people around them who influence their characteristics. From the case study, Dave is afraid to lose his family because of alcohol that is also afraid to lose his friend's circle if he abandons drinking. The environmental influence is very powerful, and in most cases, individuals tend to prefer it over their other life disciplines. The social environment gives Dave a chance to interact with his colleagues and at the same time drink alcohol. Social and work environment habits are very addictive, and getting of the indulgence is very hard. The environmental characteristics have a great influence on Dave's life because he spends a lot of time at the workplace than with his family, therefore, making much of his life. This makes it hard to abandon because an individual's life relies on this environment's settings. If Dave abandons alcohol, he will lead a lonely life because he is meant to lose his friends at work, which he is not ready to do however much he knows it will affect or destroy his marriage and family. Person-environment is always linked to many outcomes, which include job satisfaction and commitment (Jansen & Kristof, 2006). Another factor is the supplementary fit, which indicates how the characteristics of a person fit with the characteristics of the environment. Dave had adopted the drinking habits from his father, therefore finding an environment that fits with his characteristics supplemented his desires. The practice behavior in the course competency is social counseling.

References

Fowler, J. W., & Dell, M. L. (2006). Stages of faith from infancy through adolescence: Reflections on three decades of faith development theory. The handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence, 34-45.

Jansen, K. J., & Kristof-Brown, A. (2006). Toward a multidimensional theory of person-environment fit. Journal of Managerial issues, 193-212.

Hanssen, I. (2004). An intercultural nursing perspective on autonomy. Nursing Ethics, 11(1), 28-41.