Considerations about cultural care from the nursing perspective

Abstract

Human needs are limited; the care provided by professionals is not always consistent with people’s beliefs and customs. The aim is to describe relevant aspects of care for individuals with diverse cultural practices from a nursing perspective. A narrative systematic review was conducted to analyze documents published from 1995 to 2023 using a selected methodology and theoretical framework during the months of January to May 2023. Keywords identified in DeCS and Boolean operators were used: ‘Culturally Competent Healthcare’ OR ‘Transcultural Nursing’ AND ‘Transcultural Communication’ AND ‘Migrants’. The search was carried out in the databases SciELO, PubMed, Google Scholar, Dialnet, and Índex. The PRISMA flow diagram was used to assist in the search. It is noted that populations with diverse cultural practices demand multiple types of care to meet needs related to sexual and reproductive health, infectious and chronic-degenerative diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic conditions; they are often misunderstood and become victims of discrimination, mistreatment, and exclusion. Nursing professionals need to apply their cultural competencies and use transcultural communication to ensure cultural coherence in the care they provide. Changes must be made in the way care is conceived and delivered to improve the quality of life of these individuals, ensuring fair, equitable, and more humanized access to information and care.