Ethnonursing and the Theory of Culture Care, Methodological Evidence in Nursing Research: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Introduction: Health care involves cultural aspects that must be known to benefit people from the Nursing care provided. Objective: To describe the use of Ethnonursing as a research design and Madeleine Leininger’s Theory of Culture Care in the Nursing literature. Methods: An integrative review was carried out following the phases proposed by Withmoore and Knalf. The bibliographic search was conducted in Medline, Cuiden Plus, Lilacs, Scopus and ScienceDirect. The “qualitative research”, “nursing”, “culturally competent health care” and “transcultural nursing” descriptors were used in English, Spanish and Portuguese, including original articles published between 2013 and 2023. Results: A total of 12 articles were chosen and coded to give rise to four categories, namely: need for training in Ethnonursing and in the Theory of Culture Care; recognition of the cultural context and of barriers to culturally congruent care; culture care diversity and universality; and actions for culturally congruent care. Conclusions: The review allowed recognizing that the Theory of Culture Care and Ethnonursing have been scarcely used in the scientific and professional Nursing practice. It is necessary to encourage professionals to value due respect for different cultures in health services.