Madeleine Leininger’s Culture Care: Diversity and Universality Theory

Select a grand theory or a middle range theory of nursing and perform a theory analysis selected theory:MADELEINE LEININGER’S CULTURE CARE: DIVERSITY AND UNIVERSALITY THEORY The steps for theory analysis Identify the origins of the theory. Tip - find the original publication of the theory by the theorist. (For example- Nightingale's theory- Notes on Nursing would be the expected publication) cite your information. Examine the meaning of the theory. Tip - Describe what this theory means to you. What is your concept of interest? How does the concept relate to your current practice setting or future practice setting in your role?) Use citations here to support your ideas. Analyze the logical adequacy of the theory. Tip - look at the logical structure of the concepts and statements independent of their meaning. Do they make sense when placed together?) Use citations. 

Running head: MADELEINE LEININGER’S CULTURE CARE: DIVERSITY AND
UNIVERSALITY THEORY
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Madeleine Leininger’s Culture Care: Diversity and Universality Theory
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MADELEINE LEININGER’S CULTURE CARE: DIVERSITY AND UNIVERSALITY
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Madeleine Leininger’s Culture Care: Diversity and Universality Theory
The concept of theory analysis serves innumerable benefits when it comes to
development of theoretical knowledge and application of skills. In nursing, theory analysis
follows six steps which are the origin of the theory, its meaning, logical adequacy, usefulness,
degree of generalization, and testability. The purpose of these steps is to break down the theory
for easy understanding while at the same time making it easy to analyze. This paper uses the
above framework to analyze Madeleine Leininger’s transcultural theory of nursing. The theory
was coined by Madeleine Leininger in 1950s to address cultural caring and compassion when
dealing with patients from diverse cultures.
Origin of the Theory
Madeleine Leininger was a nurse by profession; hence this theory was developed in
1950s from her experience in the nursing faculty (Leininger, 1988). According to Beintarcort
(2016), Leininger made a significant observation while working as a nurse that there was no
knowledge of culture and care when dealing with patients from diverse backgrounds.
Leininger’s main observation was that components of cultural care could increase compliance
from the patient’s point of view and increase satisfaction. It is this motivation that made
Leininger to opt for a theory of providing culturally congruent care tailored towards fitting into
the group or individuals’ cultural beliefs and preferences. The primary goal was to eliminate bias
and disparities that denied people access to equal opportunities.
The Meaning of Leininger’s theory
The primary meaning of Leininger’s theory is that nursing care can fit in needs of people
with similar or diverse cultural backgrounds and beliefs. One of the main challenges that nurses
have been facing in the recent past involve the delivery of culturally safe and competent health

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care due to diversity. Globalization has opened up the healthcare sector to the extent that nurses
are encountering patients from diverse backgrounds. As a result, there has been a need for
addressing the issue of transcultural healthcare, universality, and competency for nurses to
respond to varying needs of patients with the goal of avoiding medical errors, accidents, and
readmissions. Leininger’s theory of transcultural care fits into this framework because it address
the important and crucial aspect of beneficial health and congruent care that resonate with needs
and preferences of people in their own culture. This is an approach that seeks to enhance patient
satisfaction as discussed in Carmichael (2015). The premise of this theory is that different
cultures have varying caring behaviors, and it is the role of the nurse to deliver care that meets
the needs and beliefs of cultures regardless of their beliefs or social backgrounds.
Logical adequacy of the theory
This theory meets the logical adequacy standards when it is broken down into simple
meaning. The main key idea in this theory is the relationship between cultural competency and
safety and holistic service delivery to patients. Culture defines the way of life of a given society,
and one has to acquaint with the given culture before delivering services that will satisfy
members of that culture. People feel disrespected when healthcare providers fail to respect their
cultures. Different cultures have different behaviors, and one has to avoid collision that may
arise due to cultural differences. The delivery of congruent care depends on interpersonal
relationship between the healthcare and the provider. The use of the transcultural approach
makes sure that the patient and the nurse work together to create a culture that enhances
understanding with the goal of promoting healing and recovery of the patient. I believe that this
theory is logically adequate today where there is a need for prevention of diseases and promotion

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of wellness s explained in McFarland (2019). Transcultural diversity in nursing makes sense
because nurses cannot care for people whose cultures are foreign.
Usefulness
The nursing profession is founded on the spirit of caring and healing of diseases. The
theory contributes to the current knowledge on nursing and establishes new ideas that can be
explored to enhance nursing as a profession as explained by Nashwan and Mansour (2016).
Nurses should be equipped with knowledge and skills that help the patient to feel safe and
dignified as found in qualitative study by (Cuevas, O'Brien, & Saha, 2017). The key to cultural
congruency lies in understanding and appreciating diversity in people. A separate qualitative
study by Hidayat and Uliyah (2019) found that this theory contributes to nursing education by
identifying gaps in knowledge and skills that can be filled for nurses to develop compassion and
care towards patients. Leininger’s theory makes a significant contribution to the discipline of
nursing in the sense that it helps in acknowledging that there are transcultural differences and
similarities that can be enhanced to be suppressed with the goal of helping nurses to deliver
culturally competent and effective care.
Degree of generalization
The degree of generalization of this theory is narrow, considering that Leininger was
focused on caring in the nursing profession. The focus is on how transcultural care can enhance
compassion and increase the understanding of the cultural needs of people receiving care
(Prosen, 2015). Students taking nursing as a course should be equipped with transcultural
knowledge to stay culturally safe so that they can deliver what they have learned. The
generalization of this theory has a narrow scope because of the focus on nursing as a discipline.
Nurses have potential of using their cross-cultural skills to serve in different environments, but

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they cannot apply the same knowledge in new disciplines and professions due to the focus of the
theory on nursing as a discipline alone (Albarran, Rosser, Bach, Uhrenfeldt, Lundberg, & Law,
2017). One cannot, however, underestimate the role of caring and its positive outcome when
people feel that they are being cared for. When people are satisfied with service delivery, their
productivity increase and this is the thinking that many companies opt to use to address
underproductivity through motivations. This is a general approach that enhances mutual
relationships for positive outcomes.
Testability of Leininger’s theory
Testability of this theory focuses on the hypotheses that can be generated from it to be
answered by scientific evidence. Different studies have been carried out to test the hypothesis of
this theory as it applies to nursing. A study by Nashwan and Mansour (2016) to study the
applicability of Leininger’s theory when caring for a woman with breast cancer found a positive
impact on caring and cross-cultural compassion as it relates to Leininger’s theory. Another study
by Hidayat and Uliyah (2019) tested this theory on children and found a positive correlation as it
applies to caring and compassion. Similarly, Starc and Erjavec (2017) investigated the
applicability of Leininger’s theory on nursing education and found that the theory enhanced the
use the knowledge of learners on culrural competency and caring. It is evident that additional
research and investigation of this theory on areas such as socio-cultural barriers could yield
positive outcomes that could be used in addressing disparities in healthcare. When nurses are
equipped with cultural competent skills during training, they develop compassion and a caring
attitude towards patients. This is essential for overcoming barriers that affect the quality of
services and cultural safety in healthcare.

MADELEINE LEININGER’S CULTURE CARE: DIVERSITY AND UNIVERSALITY
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Leininger’s transcultural theory of nursing is essential for addressing cultural and other
disparities in healthcare. Leininger used her experience in serving patients to realize that the
element of diversity in culture was missing. She coined this theory so that it could help in
meeting the needs and preferences of patients. The theory has a practical application in today’s
globalized world where healthcare providers interact with patients from diverse cultures.
Equipping nurses with relevant knowledge and skills on transcultural competency makes sure
that they avoid biases and could undermine the dignity of the nursing profession.

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References
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https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v6i4.11457
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Nashwan, J., A. & Mansour, B., D. (2016). Caring for a Bedouin female patient with breast
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