Nurses and Muslim patients:two perspectives on Islamic culture in the hospital

Nurses and Muslim patients:two perspectives on Islamic culture in the hospital

Plaza del Pino, Fernando Jesús

2017/00/00

English

20170000

Objectives: 1) To find out nurses’ perspectives on their Muslim patients’ cultural aspects. 2) To find out Muslim cultural and religious aspects in the hospital setting from the Muslim patients’ point of view. 3) To contrast nurses and Muslim patients’ perceptions of Muslim religion and culture. Method: Grounded Theory is performed using thorough interviews to collect data. Informants: nurses in hospital units (N=32), Muslim patients admitted into a public hospital in Almería (Spain) (N=37). Results: Nurses. Stereotypes determine their perspectives on Muslim patients’ cultural aspects. Despite not understanding them, they respect them. They perceive great cultural distance from Muslims. Muslim patients. Two main categories arise: variability in the way Islam is interpreted and followed and the fact that religion is left 'in a second place', putting a full recovery from illness before the precepts of Islam. Similarities with Andalusian culture are found. Conclusions: Healthcare providers’ interpretation of Muslim characteristics is determined by stereotypes and prejudice. This contrasts with the heterogeneity found in terms of how the precepts of Islam are followed. In general, nurses are willing to learn about Muslim culture and they deem it positive to have greater cultural understanding and respect in order to improve healthcare.

21.7

21.7;8.1;4.1.3

cultural competency--[pri];nurses patient relationship--[pri];nursing ethics--[pri]

health care delivery;hospitals;immigrants;interviews;Muslims;patients

Spain--[pri]

Moroccans

prejudice;stereotypes

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences2017; 237:1131-1137

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

citation

5 refs

18770428 (print)