Transcultural Nursing: Providing Culturally Congruent Care to the Hausa of Northwest Africa

Abstract

Research around the world is now beginning to validate the theory of Cultural Care as an important means to provide culturally congruent care to clients, families, and groups of diverse cultures. Knowledge of Leininger's Theory of Cultural Care Diversity and Universality can provide meaningful care to clients who have different traditional and current beliefs and values. The Leininger Sunrise Model can serve as a valuable guide to discover care meanings and practices related to the theory, and to provide practical and meaningful culture specific care decisions and actions by nurses. The three major modes of action, namely, cultural care maintenance or preservation, accommodation or negotiation, and repatterning or restructuring, are important differential means to provide culturally congruent care to clients within their own cultural setting. This article considers the application of such care for the Hausa of Northwest Africa. The author was enrolled in the transcultural nursing course at the College of Nursing, Wayne State University, and this paper was written as a term paper activity. The author is presently employed in King Faisel's Specialist Hospital and Research Center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.