What are the organizing phenomena that define a culture?
Culture can be defined by communication, space, orientation to time, social organization, environmental control, and biological variations. Nurses need to use interpreters and attend to the client’s body language to communicate effectively. Personal space and orientation to time vary by culture and should be considered when working with a client from another culture. Social organization provides a broad view of how clients are structured by family, religious, and ethnic groups. Environmental control refers to the relationships between people and nature and to a person’s perceived ability to control activities of nature. Biological variations among cultures include enzymatic differences, susceptibility to disease, and nutritional variations, all of which may affect responses to treatment. What is transcultural nursing? Transcultural nursing, developed by nurse/anthropologist Madeleine Leininger, is the study and analysis of different cultures and subcultures with respect to cultural car
