Competencia cultural en saludconocimientos, prácticas y actitudes ante los cuidados culturales

Résumé

In the last few years there has been a great deal of social changes taking place in Spain, which have had an influence in the response model that both patients and their families demand to healthcare professionals particularly, and to the healthcare system in general terms. The gradual increase in the influx of immigrants in our country has generated two new health demands which make necessary the acquisition of certain culturally competent nursing care by healthcare providers; On the one hand, to healthcare professionals, the existence of a new profile of a disease processes. On the other hand a new labour niche is created, where the Incoming inmigrant now plays the role of a non- proffesional healthcare provider who, at the same time, provides the native patients with the healthcare they demand, In a society where people coexist with many different cultural references, healthcare providers must be able to communicate with these patients effectively and, in addition to this, they will have to know, and take into account, their cultural determining factors concerning health and disease processes, Acquisition, cultural knowledge, culturally competent practices and an attitude of cultural desire are considered essential for them. Knowledge, skills and attitudes ultimately contribute to create nurse competence, named cultural competence. According to scientific literature, there are not enough factors to allow the consolidation of what is called transcultural nursing in our country, That is the reason why we consider the development of adaptation strategies as something necessary to enhance the acquisition of a cultural awareness in our professionals. The personal challenge that I propose, throughout the development of this line of investigation which is exposed in this doctoral dissertation, is the development of a platform of activities aimed at teaching, practising, and researching, which includes the healthcare component from the individuals' cultural perspective. 1. To know the attitudes of healthcare providers, concerning the idea of caring others, taking into account, as literature shows by itself, the need to include the attitudes of the pre-professional population in the analysis. 2. To know the caring applications that those who provide health services give to people of several nationalities either being professional suppliers or not (informal caregivers). The late case refers to the phenomenon of foreign caregivers that we will discuss hereafter. 3. To include the training in cultural competence as a common strategy to both current healthcare providers and those who wiii become one In the future (Nursing University Degree). 4. To add a more cultural competence in research by promoting the qualitative approach in its methodology. As a result of this comprehensive approach to cultural competence and taking into account the emic and etic perspectives of healthcare providers, it has been necessary to make a call for methodological pluralism. This plural approach has been attached to data triangulation and informations that emphasize the need for coherence between both research methods and the objectives of each study, which are part of the epitome of this doctoral dissertation. Given the diversity of issues that we wanted to define we have employed different strategies and techniques of social research to ensure there is a consistency in the approach all the goals. The results achieved have proved the need for getting culturally competent healthcare in the cultural meetings in health and disease processes, separating each and every one taking into consideration the key concepts in this line of investigation: Knowledge, practices and attitudes that allow us to conclude that healthcare is, above all, an act of communication, that is, the meeting with 'other person1 and through its development there is a need for building up meaningful and respectful relationships with patients, Healthcare providers will have to make an effort to increase their cultural knowledge and use it in their role as nurses, iosing the fear to accept and understand the need to integrate the intercultural communicative competence in their everyday life. The right to maintain their cultural identity must prevail, without overriding those which are different to their own, having a mutual enrichment with new experiences, beholding the worid through others' eyes, and adding others' knowledge to their own one; being able to discover along with the other person instead of just knowing about him. This can only be possible with culturai competence.