RESEARCH ARTICLE

 

Cultural knowledge of non-Muslim nurses working in Saudi Arabian obstetric units

 

 

EM Sidumo^I; VJ Ehlers^II; SP Hattingh^III

^IMA Cur graduate. Department of Health Studies, University of South Africa
^IIProfessor, Department of Health Studies, University of South Africa
^IIIAssociate Professor, Department of Health Studies, University of South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

Culture defines how persons behave towards each other. When nurses and patients belong to different cultures, culture-based misunderstandings could influence the nurse-patient relationships and interactions adversely. The purpose of the study was to determine non-Muslim nurses' knowledge about Muslim traditions pertaining to obstetric units in a Muslim country. A quantitative descriptive research design was adopted. The population comprised 67 nurses, but the accessible population consisted of 52 nurses who were working in the participating hospital's gynaecological wards during the data collection phase. However, only 50 nurses completed questionnaires as two nurses did not want to participate in the study. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 11.5) was used to analyse the data. The research results indicate that non-Muslim nurses lacked knowledge about Muslim practices concerning breastfeeding, Ko'hl, the "evil eye", modesty, medicine and food taboos. If these aspects could be addressed during the recruitment and inservice education of non-Muslim nurses working in Muslim countries, this could enhance the quality of culture-competent nursing care.

Key words: Breastfeeding, culture competent nursing care, food taboes, Ko'hl, Muslim traditions, non-Muslim nurses, the "evil eye"

---

 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

References

AL-AQEEL, MD 2004: Common genetic and metabolic diseases in Saudi Arabia. Middle East Journal of Family Medicine. 23(8):909=914.         [ Links ]

AL-JASSIR, MS; EL-BASHIR, BM; MOIZUDDIN, SK & ABU-NAYAN, AA 2006: Infant feeding in Saudi Arabia: mothers' attitudes and practices. East Mediterranean Health Journal. 12 (1-2):6-13.         [ Links ]

AL-SHAHRI, MZ 2002: Culturally sensitive care for Saudi Arabian patients. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 13(2):133-138.         [ Links ]

ANDREWS, MM & BOYLE, JS 2003: Transcultural concepts in nursing care. 4^th edition. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott.         [ Links ]

BURNS, K 2001: Drugs, medicine, herbs and birth defects.         [ Links ] [Online] http://www.islaonline.net/english/Science/article2.shtm (accessed 19 November 2007 at 16:00).

CALLISTER, LC 1995: Cultural meaning to childbirth. Journal of Obstetrics, Gynaecologic and Neonatal Nursing, 24(4): 327-331.         [ Links ]

CALLISTER, LC 2001: Culturally competent care of women and newborns: knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Journal of Obstetrics, Gynaecologic and Neonatal Nursing. 30(2):209-215.         [ Links ]

FREE ONLINE DICTIONARY 2008: [Online] Available: Links ]Marriem-Webster.com" target="_blank">http://www.Marriem-Webster.com Accessed 02 January 2008

GALANTI, GA 2006: Applying cultural competence to perianesthesia nursing. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing, 21(2):97-102.         [ Links ]

HAHN, R 1995: Sickness and health: an anthropological perspective. London: Yale University Press.         [ Links ]

HELMAN, CG 2002: Culture, health and illness. 4th edition. London: Butterworth/Heinemann.         [ Links ]

LEININGER, M & McFARLAND, MR 2002: Transcultural nursing: concepts, theories, research and practice. 3^rd edition. New York: McGraw Hill.         [ Links ]

LONGMAN'S DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH. 2005: The living dictionary. 4^th edition. Rome: La Tipografica Varese.         [ Links ]

LOVERING, S 2006: Cultural attitudes and beliefs about pain. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 17(4):389-395.         [ Links ]

PANTER-BRICK, C 1991: Parental responses to consanguinity and genetic disease in Saudi Arabia. Social Science & Medicine. 33(11):1295-1302.         [ Links ]

ROBERTS, KS 2002: Providing culturally sensitive care to the childbearing Islamic family. Advances in Neonatal Care. 2(4):222-228.         [ Links ]

ROBERTS, KS 2003: Providing culturally sensitive care to the childbearing Islamic family: part II. Advances in Neonatal Care. 3(5):250-255.         [ Links ]

THE OXFORD HANDY DICTIONARY 2004: London: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

TJALE, A & DE, VILLIERS L (eds) 2004: Cultural issues in health and health care. Cape Town: Juta.         [ Links ]

WELLS, MI 2000: Beyond cultural competence: a model for individual and institutional cultural development. Journal of Community Health Nursing. 17(4):189-99.         [ Links ]

ZAHR, LK & HATTAR-POLLARA, M 1998: Nursing care of Arab children: consideration of cultural factors. Journal of Paediatric Nursing,13(6):349-355.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Prof VJ Ehlers
ehlervj@unisa.ac.za