PERCEPTIONS OF THE ADEQUACY OF NURSING CARE OF HOSPITALIZED ANGLO-CANADIAN AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE CLIENTS.
Contributors: University Of Toronto (Canada)
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 235
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Public Health.
Description: Canadian society is composed of individuals and groups of many cultural, racial and linguistic backgrounds. This cosmopolitan mosaic is highly reflected in the population of clients in the health care system in Ontario. Professional nurses, who work with these clients, find themselves with a challenge of caring for people whose beliefs, values and life-styles may vary from their own.

This study is aimed at exploring (1) whether there are similarities and/or differences in the perceptions and experiences of the hospitalized Anglo-Canadian and culturally diverse clients of the nursing care they receive and (2) whether the perceptions of the professional nurses giving care are similar and/or different from those of their clients.

The study seeks to determine, by use of sociological conflict theory, whether or not the nursing care as perceived by the clients is discordant with their expectations and desires and whether the professional nurses perceived themselves to be educationally prepared to meet the challenge facing them.

Content analysis revealed that the health beliefs, values, practices and illness management of the immigrant and refugee clients differed significantly from those of the mainstream culture and the western-educated-nurse professional. What became apparent was that the western system of nursing care as practised in Ontario is in conflict with the cultural definitions of health and illness practices of culturally diverse clients.

The results suggest that nurse educators and policy makers need to research the differences in objectives, content and learning experiences related to cultural diversity in their curricula that may account for the differences experienced by the culturally diverse clients. Implications for specific curriculum changes are suggested in planning nursing educational changes.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-08, Section: B, page: 4978.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (CANADA), 1996.

School code: 0779.