Community Participant-Observation: issues in Assessing Diverse Cultures

Abstract

The community health nurse (CHN) is committed to assessing and caring for all aspects of a community, including both individual and aggregate problems. Within this context, an understanding of what makes members of one community alike and what makes them different from members of other communities, becomes significant. A community is a social group determined by geographic boundaries and/or other common values and interests. It exhibits and creates certain norms, values, and social institutions (Gikow & Kucharski, 1987). These values, beliefs, and social institutions can also be referred to as the culture of the community (Leininger, 1983). Cultural identification gives a background from which nurses can anticipate client differences in values, religion, dietary practices, lines of authority, family-life patterns, and beliefs and practices related to health and illness (Tripp-Reimer, Brink, & Saunders, 1984). Authors such as Brownlee (1978), Davis (1986), Gikow and Kucharski (1987), and Leininger (1977) presented guidelines for assessing communities and cultures.