Nursing Faculty Care Expressions, Patterns, and Practices Related to Teaching Culture Care

Introduction: Teaching culture care in nursing education is critical to ensuring a culturally competent workforce. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover faculty care that facilitates teaching students to provide culture care.

Research questions were:

1. In what ways do nursing faculty care expressions, patterns, and practices influence teaching culture care?

2. In what ways do worldview, culture and social structure, and environmental context influence nursing faculty teaching culture care?

3. Given the nature of the school of nursing/university culture, what influence does this have on nursing faculty teaching culture care?

4. In what ways does nursing faculty teaching culture care influence their health and well being within the environmental context of the school of nursing/university?

Method: This study was grounded in Leininger’s culture care theory and ethnonursing research method. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 27 nursing faculty from baccalaureate programs in the Southeastern United States. Open-ended interviews were conducted until saturation occurred, audio recorded, and transcribed. Leininger’s ethnonursing data analysis and qualitative criteria were used. Informants confirmed the themes and patterns.

Results: Four major themes were discovered: faculty care is embedded in Christian religious values, beliefs, and practices; faculty taught culture care without an organizing framework; faculty provided generic and professional care to nursing students; and care is essential for faculty health and well being to teach culture care.

Discussion/Conclusion: Faculty have limited preparation in transcultural nursing, yet ensured students cared for diverse patients in clinical assignments. Culture care repatterning is recommended for faculty to integrate teaching culture care throughout the curriculum and use a conceptual framework. This study further substantiated Leininger’s work; contributed to the practice of nursing through understanding the complex nature of teaching culture care; and to the discipline of nursing through building the body of transcultural nursing education knowledge.