Communication strategies for nurses facing culturally diverse patients

Abstract

Objective (s): To determine how nurses manage intercultural communication with their patients.Methods: The type of this qualitative study was content analysis. 21 nurses were participated in this study. Sampling was purposeful. They have a diversity of age, sex, clinical experiences and different positions. Data were collected via unstructured interview. Content analysis and constant comparative analysis method was used for data analysis. The strategies of prolonged engagement, peer debriefing, member checking and journal writing were used to establish the trustworthiness of the study.Results: Data analysis showed that various strategies were used for inter cultural communication such as: member of family, secretaries of ward, nonverbal communication, using the previous vocabulary, and also translators. Different strategies such as relatives, bilingual and bicultural nurse, orderly, secretary of the ward, nonverbal language, use of previous words and translators are used.Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that nurses when patients are facing cultural diversity, based on their professional and moral obligation, use a combination of strategies to provide complete and effective care.

Keywords

• cultural diversity
• communication strategies
• qualitative content analysis