A phenomenological examination of qualified nurses' perception, meaning and experience of culture working in the HSE West

Abstract

T his Research Study sets out to examine qualified nurses’ perception, meaning and experience of culture working in the HSE West. The research was conducted utilising a Qualitative Phenomenological Husserlian Framework. An in-depth review of the sociological and nursing literature was carried out. This revealed that culture is a multifaceted, dynamic and nonstatic term which is difficult to define (Tovey & Share, 2003). Nursing is immersed in Culture complete with its philosophies, models and theories which embody the very essence of culture values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour (Bashford & Slevin, 2003). The nurse is a cultural dweller who has been socialised at a personal level and at a professional level. Nursing subscribes to the practice o f Holism yet for many nurses faced with difference in society a tick -the -boxes essentialist perspective is preferred which is at variance to this very constructivist ideal (Gray & Thomas, 2006). Having the Map is not sufficient to deal with the diversity in Irish society the literature forwards cultural competence models with Madeleine Leininger (1995) at the fore front of the development of Transcultural nursing theory. Papadopoulos, Tilki & Taylor, (1998) have forwarded a transcultural care model which focuses on the development of transcultural skills and has identified four main concepts cultural awareness, knowledge, sensitivity and competence required in order for this to occur.