Abstract
The purpose of this ethnographic study is to describe and analyse
professional and lay care in the Bena cultural context in the Tanzanian village
of Ilembula. The study focuses on care as a cultural phenomenon. The structure of
the study is based on M.M. Leininger's (1991) Culture Care Theory In the first
phase of the study, care was described from a professional perspective. The data
were collected by interviewing and observing trained nurses (n=6) in the wards of
Ilembula Lutheran Hospital. The study material was complemented with the data
obtained from informants' diaries and institutional documents. The data were
analysed by using qualitative ethnonursing analysis. In the second phase of the
study, the focus was on lay care. The fieldwork was done in the Ilembula village
and Ilembula Lutheran Hospital. The data were collected by interviewing villagers
(n=49) and relatives (n=12) of patients admitted to Ilembula Lutheran Hospital,
and by observing their care practices. The data were analysed by qualitative
content analyses with regard to the cultural context.
Curing and caring were the characteristics of professional care, as
described by the nurse informants. Curing was linked to skills and knowledge
obtained in nurse training and it was demonstrated through technical
interventions, medication and health education. Caring referred to a natural
mother-child relationship and reflected the traditional cultural knowledge.
Caring was demonstrated in primary care, meaning a mother's responsibilities in
taking care of a small baby, encouragement and comfort. The patient's recovery
and maintenance of health were the goals of professional care. Respect and
protection were the characteristics of lay care, reflecting the worldview and
cultural values of the Bena. The aim of respect was to maintain family unity and
to ensure wellbeing, while protection focused on the sensitive phases of the Bena
life span. The main meaning of lay care for the informants was health maintenance
and improvement of health. Health included physical, mental and reproductive
aspects, and enabled them to respond to the culturally determined role
expectations.
The aim of this ethnographic study was to demonstrate that care is integral
to much more comprehensive socio-cultural issues in the context of a Tanzanian
village. The study demonstrates the meaning of cultural and social factors, such
as cultural values and lifeways, kinship, economic, educational, and ethnohistory
in both professional and lay care. The findings can be utilised in transcultural
nursing education and in clinical nursing practice, especially in developing
patient education from a transcultural perspective, not only in Tanzania, but
internationally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:oulo.fi/oai:oulu.fi:isbn951-42-6431-2 |
| Date | 02 July 2001 |
| Creators | Juntunen, A. (Anitta) |
| Publisher | University of Oulu |
| Source Sets | University of Oulu |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, © University of Oulu, 2001 |
| Relation | info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/0355-3221, info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1796-2234 |
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