untitled

the health and well-being of clients or to help
clients face disability or death in culturally mean-
ingful and satisfying ways. Thus, the ultimate and
primary goal of the theory was to provide culturally
congruent care that was tailor-made for the life-
ways and values of people (Leininger, 1991, 1995).

Theory Assumptions

Several assumptions or basic beliefs to the theory
were constructed by the theorist. They are as fol-
lows (Leininger, 1970, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1991,
1997a):

1. Care is essential for human growth, develop-
   ment, and survival and to face death or dying.


2. Care is essential to curing and healing; there can
   be no curing without caring.


3. The forms, expressions, patterns, and processes
   of human care vary among all cultures of the
   world.

Forms, expressions, patterns, and processes

of human care vary among all cultures of

the world.

4. Every culture has generic (lay, folk, or naturalis-
   tic) care and usually professional care practices.


5. Culture care values and beliefs are embedded in
   religious, kinship, social, political, cultural, eco-
   nomic, and historical dimensions of the social
   structure and in language and environmental
   contexts.


6. Therapeutic nursing care can only occur when
   client culture care values, expressions, and/or
   practices are known and used explicitly to pro-
   vide human care.


7. Differences between caregiver and care receiver
   expectations need to be understood in order to
   provide beneficial, satisfying, and congruent
   care.


8. Culturally congruent, specific, or universal care
   modes are essential to the health or well-being of
   people of cultures.


9. Nursing is essentially a transcultural care profes-
   sion and discipline.

Orientational Theory Definitions

Since the theory has been built with a qualitative
focus, the definitions are orientational rather than
highly restrictive:

1.Culture care diversity:Refers to variability

and/or differences in meanings, patterns, val-

ues, lifeways, or symbols of care within or

between cultures that demonstrate assistive,

supportive, or enabling human care expres-

sions (Leininger, 1991, p. 47).

2.Culture care universality:Refers to the com-

mon, similar, or dominant uniform care mean-

ings, patterns, values, lifeways, or symbols that

are manifest with cultures and reflect assistive,

supportive, facilitative, or enabling ways to

help people (Leininger, 1991, p. 47).

3.Care:Refers to abstract and concrete phenom-

ena related to assisting, supporting, or enabling

experiences toward or for others with evident

or anticipated care needs to ameliorate or im-

prove a human condition or lifeway. “Caring”

refers generally to care actions and activities

(Leininger, 1991, p. 46).

4.Culture:Refers to the learned, shared, and

transmitted values, beliefs, norms, and lifeways

of a particular group that guides their thinking,

decisions, and actions in patterned ways

(Leininger, 1991, p. 47).

5.Culture care:Refers to subjectively and objec-

tively learned and transmitted values, beliefs,

and patterned lifeways that assist, support, fa-

cilitate, or enable another individual or group

to maintain well-being and health, to improve

their human condition and lifeway, or to deal

with illness, handicaps, or death (Leininger,

1991, p. 47).

6.Professional care:Refers to formally taught,

learned, and transmitted professional care,

health, illness, wellness, and related knowledge

and skills that are found in professional institu-

tions and held to be beneficial to clients (they

are usually etic or outsiders’ views) (Leininger,

1990, 1995, p. 106).

7.Generic (folk and lay) care:Refers to culturally

learned and transmitted indigenous (or tradi-

tional, folk, lay, and home-based) knowledge

or skills used to provide assistive, supportive,

enabling, or facilitative acts toward or for

another individual or group (they are largely

emic or insiders’ views) (Leininger, 1995,

p. 106).

8.Health:Refers to a state of well-being that is

culturally defined, valued, and practiced and

reflects the ability of individuals (or groups) to

perform their daily role activities in culturally

CHAPTER 20 Madeleine M. Leininger’s Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality 315