Book Review
Culture Care Diversity and Universality: A Worldwide Nursing Theory
Madeleine M Leininger and Marilyn R Mcfarland (eds)
ISBN: 978-0-7637343-7-4; 2006; xviii+413 pages; Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury;
Rick Zoucha
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
This book is the second edition based on a lifetime of work and the continued development of the 1991 edition. It is appropriate for beginning nursing students, graduate students and experienced nurse researchers interested in theory development and transcultural nursing research.
The 16 chapters include a very in-depth introduction and description of culture care diversity and universality theory, along with the evolution of the theory and ethnonursing research method. The first three chapters and last chapter in the book deal with the theory, research method, globalisation of transcultural nursing theory and research, and predictions for the future. Eight chapters deal directly with the utilisation of the ethnonursing research method as findings and four chapters discuss the use of the theory in nursing administration, clinical application, and indirectly nursing education. The book uses respected scholars in the field to present the application of the theory and findings using the research method.
The authors do a good job of articulating the scope of the book through the foundational chapters related to the theory and research method that is unique to nursing and specifically developed to understand and discover phenomena of interest to nursing. Overall, the chapters that follow the foundational chapters assist the reader in understanding the relationship to the theory in practice, administration and education, as well as the rigor involved in the research process specific to the theory and research method. The authors also make a very clear connection to the theory and research method for use in discovery of culture care phenomena in nursing globally.
The book could have been laid out differently by grouping the chapters using the theory in nursing, followed by the research chapters. There is relevance in using classic work to articulate the use of the theory and research method; however, presenting contemporary work could advance the continued development of the theory and research method. Presenting studies using the research method with large immigrant populations across the globe such as Mexican, or sub-cultures such as gays and lesbians, would be beneficial for future editions.
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