Factors influencing oncology nurses' approaches to accommodating cultural needs in palliative care.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to explore the social construction of cultural issues in palliative care amongst oncology nurses.


BACKGROUND
Australia is a nation composed of people from different cultural origins with diverse linguistic, spiritual, religious and social backgrounds. The challenge of working with an increasingly culturally diverse population is a common theme expressed by many healthcare professionals from a variety of countries.


METHODS
Grounded theory was used to investigate the processes by which nurses provide nursing care to cancer patients from diverse cultural backgrounds.


METHODS
Semi-structured interviews with seven Australian oncology nurses provided the data for the study; the data was analysed using grounded theory data analysis techniques.


RESULTS
The core category emerging from the study was that of accommodating cultural needs. This paper focuses on describing the series of subcategories that were identified as factors which could influence the process by which nurses would accommodate cultural needs. These factors included nurses' views and understandings of culture and cultural mores, their philosophy of cultural care, nurses' previous experiences with people from other cultures and organisational approaches to culture and cultural care.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that previous experiences with people from other cultures and organisational approaches to culture and cultural care often influenced nurses' views and understandings of culture and cultural mores and their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours in providing cultural care. Relevance to clinical practice. It is imperative to appreciate how nurses' experiences with people from other cultures can be recognised and built upon or, if necessary, challenged. Furthermore, nurses' cultural competence and experiences with people from other cultures need to be further investigated in clinical practice.
Huang
Ya-Ling
YL
Nursing Department, Tzu Hui Institute of Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China. rebecca_yaling@yahoo.com.tw
Yates
Patsy
P
Prior
Deborah
D
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009859:Oncology Nursing / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D011361:Professional Competence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013624:Taiwan; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends