It is one of the fundamental human rights of people with different cultural characteristics to clearly state their cultural assets and these values should be respected by everyone. Cultural characteristics may differ between ethnic groups as well as within ethnic groups. Health is defined as not only the absence of illness and disability, but also a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. The well-being of individuals varies according to the values and beliefs of the society in which they live. The concepts of health and illness appear as a social and cultural phenomenon. Cultural behaviors of individuals create their perception of health and illness. Therefore, receiving care, demanding healthcare services and adapting to the applied treatment may differ culturally.
It was first stated by Peplau in 1950 that cultural characteristics affect the mental health of individuals, thus it set ground for the concept of “transcultural nursing” in the field of nursing. The concept of “transcultural nursing” was used by Leininger for the first time in 1959 and was tried to be popularized. Leninger defines transcultural nursing as “the sub-branch of nursing that attaches importance to cultures during nursing care, respects health, illness, beliefs and values, and examines and compares differences in all cultures in the world”.
Transcultural nursing approach, which has become more widespread, gained more importance in the 1960s. In 1969, ICN started to use the cultural content in nursing. The purpose of the transcultural nursing approach; to know that the cultural needs of individuals, families and various groups differ, and to provide a sensitive and effective nursing care in supplying these needs. The key of transcultural nursing is to see individuals as a cultural asset, to treat them as a whole with their environment, to accept that health changes from culture to culture and to provide them a meaningful, appropriate, respectful service on cultural values and life style.
The nursing profession has adopted an individual-centered approach to care for all groups in the globalizing world. Nurses should be aware of cultural changes in the process of caring for individuals and should be sensitive to these changes. A nurse who does not know different cultures may not be able to recognize the health needs of individuals who are not from her/his own culture and therefore may be remain incapable to provide the needs of individuals. More so, nurses may misperceive different cultural behaviors and cause them or the patient to experience a culture shock. Nurses can prevent the cultural shock by increasing their knowledge of different cultures, by providing patients with care in accordance with their own culture and without prejudice. However, it is not possible for nurses to know the cultural background and characteristics of all individuals, and there may not be enough time to make a complete cultural diagnosis for each patient. Therefore, it should be known that there may be different cultural behaviors and nursing care should be given with the awareness that these behaviors will affect health in multidimensional ways.
