Exploring the consequences of culturally sensitive care in pediatric nursing: A qualitative study

Culturally sensitive care is an essential component of professional development process and one of the predictive factors of nurses’ cultural competency. This care is the most important approach to improve the quality of nursing care in culturally diverse groups. The current study aimed to explore the consequences of culturally sensitive care in pediatric nursing.
Methods & Materials: This study is a qualitative study using conventional content analysis. 25 nurses and 9 parents were purposefully selected with maximum variation sampling from the pediatric wards of three referral teaching hospitals in Tabriz and Tehran in 2015-2016. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and field notes and simultaneously analyzed using MAXQDA software version 10.
The consequences of culturally sensitive care in pediatric nursing emerged in two categories: justice-based care (with three subcategories: the lack of cultural bias, culture-based communication and effective participation) and cultural satisfaction (with two subcategories: reduced cultural stress and safe care). Culturally sensitive care prevents misunderstandings and improves nurse-child/parents communication and leads to parents’ honesty to share information and express cultural needs. The expression of cultural needs decreases stress levels in parents and children and results in safe care by reducing intractable traditional treatment.
According to the findings of this study, it is suggested that effective culturally sensitive interventions in pediatric wards should be included in in-service courses and nursing curriculum.