Madeleine Leininger developed the theory of Transcultural Nursing in the 1950s after noticing differences in child behaviors had a cultural basis. Her theory focuses on providing culturally congruent nursing care through understanding a patient's beliefs, values, and practices. She developed the Sunrise Model to illustrate the dynamic relationship between culture and care. The goal of transcultural nursing is to deliver therapeutic and meaningful care by incorporating cultural knowledge into nursing practice. Leininger's theory emphasizes caring as the central concept of nursing and highlights the importance of considering environmental and cultural factors to achieve optimal health outcomes.

1. Madeleine Leininger
Transcultural Nursing Theory:
Sunrise Model

2. What is Transcultural Nursing?
"a discipline of study and practice focused on comparative
culture care differences and similarities among and between
cultures in order to assist human beings to attain and maintain
meaningful and therapeutic health care practices that are
culturally based" (Leininger, 2008, p.9).

3. Motivation for theory development
In the 1950's working as a clinical nurse specialist with
disturbed children in the Midwest United States, Leininger
noticed recurrent behavioral differences among the children
and hypothesized the differences had a cultural base.
This experience led Leininger to becoming the first nurse to
earn a doctorate in anthropology and precipitated the
development of Transcultural nursing.
(http://nursingtheories.info/biography-of-madeleine-leininger/)

4. Cont...
Through interactions with patients and conversations with
peers Leininger identified "two major missing dimensions in
nursing, namely knowledge of diverse cultures and the
meaning and practices of care in diverse cultures" (Leininger,
2008, para 4).

5. Philosophical Roots of Leininger's
Theory
Leininger states that the philosophical roots of her theory are:
• extensive and diverse nursing experiences
• anthropological insights
• life experiences and values
• reflection upon spiritual insights and beliefs
The theorist created a theory to develop "new practices for
nursing to meet diverse cultural needs and to provide
therapeutic care with comprehensive and holistic care practices
in a caring discipline" Leininger, 2008, p.10)

6. Transcultural Nursing Theory Concepts
Transcultural nursing theory incorporates
research from numerous scientific disciplines:
1. Nursing
2. Medicine
3. Education
4. Psychology
5. Public Health
6. Epidemiology
(Murphy, S. C., 2006)

7. INTERRELATIONSHIP
Culturally Competent
Nursing Care
-promote human rights and
quality health care through
cultural awareness
-centered on universal aspect
of human caring as
defined within each culture
-assess cultural needs and
integrate nursing care that
is congruent with cultural
values
Transcultural Nursing
Research
-address cultural conflicts
within healthcare beliefs
-nursing care that is beneficial
and meaningful to all cultures
-increase knowledge base to
improve cultural competence
-impact global healthcare
policy and practices
(Transcultural Nursing Society, 2012)

8. Culturally Congruent Nursing Care
Culturally congruent nursing care occurs when nurses integrate
information from individuals, family, community, or institution
based on cultural:
• beliefs
• values
• norms
• patterns/lifeways
• practices
to provide appropriate and meaningful nursing care.
(Leininger, M. M., 1997)

9. Metaparadigm Concepts
CARING (not Nursing)
• essence of nursing
• universal concept within all cultures
• assisting, supporting, or enabling behaviors to improve a
person's condition
• essential for survival, development, ability to deal with
life's events
• greater level of wellness is achieved when caring is in line
with patient's cultural values and beliefs
(Andrews, M. M., Boyles, J. S., 2002)

10. Metaparadigm Concepts
PERSON
Some cultures do not recognize the concept of
"person". Leininger's definition includes:
• individuals
• families
• groups
• communities
(Andrews, M. M., Boyles, J. S., 2002)

11. Metaparadigm Concepts
ENVIRONMENT
The environmental context includes any events
• physical
• ecological
• sociopolitical
• cultural

12. Diversity and Universality Theory:
The Origins of Leininger's Transcultural Nursing Theory
"During the 1950's, while working in a child guidance home, Leininger
experienced what she describes as a culture shock when she realized that
recurrent behavioral patterns in children appeared to have a cultural basis.
Leininger identified a lack of cultural and care knowledge as the missing link to
nursing's understanding of the many variations required in patient care to
support compliance, healing, and wellness. These insights were the
beginnings of a new construct and phenomenon related to nursing care called
transcultural nursing".
(Jones & Bartlett, 2012)

13. Evaluation of Transcultural
Nursing Theory
Clarification of Origin
• Originally developed in 1950s
• Leininger's 1st book, Cultural Care Diversity and
Universality - Published 1991
• Transcultural Nursing (2nd ed.) - Published 1995
• Transcultural Nursing (3rd ed.) - Published 2002
• Though the transcultural nursing theory model is
applicable to nursing, its principals can be thought to be
important in most professional circumstances.
• To achieve the highest degree of patient compliance,
healing, and wellness, the theory accounts for the
cultural aspects of the patient. (http://nursing-theory.org)

14. Evaluation of Transcultural
Nursing Theory
Content
• Human being- Nurses need humanistic and
scientific transcultural knowledge in order to
adequately care for patients in the 21st century.
• Environment- Care values are influenced by many
things including worldview, spirituality, and
environment.
• Health- Care specific to one's culture promotes
health, as valued and defined by each culture.
• Nursing- Since 1989 nurses have been able to
receive global certification in transcultural nursing,
gaining knowledge and awareness of the cultural
needs of patients, making them able to provide
culturally congruent, responsible and
compassionate care. (Leinninger, M. M., 1997)

15. Evaluation of Transcultural
Nursing Theory
View
• The transcultural nursing model can be used
in all aspects of nursing care, but proper use of
the model can only be achieved
if the patient's values are
known and meaningfully
used in an appropriate way
by the nurse with the patient.
(http://nursing-theory.org)

16. Evaluation of Transcultural
Nursing Theory
Practice situations
• Transcultural Nursing Theory should be
practiced in all professional situations.
• Examples:
o Dietary restriction (kosher) for people of Jewish faith.
o Providing vegetarian meal options for Catholics
on Fridays.
o Direct eye contact for Asian/Vietnamese means a
challenge and should be avoided.
o It is customary to address elder Americans as well as
people of Arabic and Muslim faith formally.

17. Weblinks
http://nursing-theory.org/nursing-theorists/Madeline-
Leininger.php

18. References
Leininger, M. (1997, Winter). Transcultural nursing research to tranform nursing education
and practice: 40 years. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 29(4), 341+.Retrieved
from http://0-go.galegroup.com.mel.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA20125511&v=2.1&u=
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