Secondary Analysis of Cultural Domains among Filipino Nursing Students

The purpose of this study was to describe the commonality and variability within cultural domains of communication, family roles & organization, pregnancy & childbearing, spirituality, death rituals, and health practices according to cultural assessments completed on Filipino nursing students during a study-abroad program in the Philippines.

During a study-abroad nursing program in the Philippines, nursing students from the United States were required to complete a cultural assessment of a Filipino based on questions from Purnell’s Model of Cultural Competence.  Being paired with Filipino nursing students, all American students completed their assignments interviewing their Filipino partners.  Having reviewed these narrative cultural assessments from the past two years, the authors requested IRB permission from Truman State University to conduct a qualitative secondary analysis, using a template approach based on the cultural domains from Purnell’s Model of Cultural Competence.

From cultural assessments of 25 Filipino nursing students representing the Visayan culture around Iloilo City, the authors mapped out commonalities and variations in cultural beliefs and practices according to categories constructed from Purnell’s domains of communication, family roles & organization, pregnancy & childbearing practices, death rituals, spirituality, and health practices.  Comparisons between informants’ primary characteristics of culture for gender and religious affiliation were made of the variations in cultural beliefs and practices.

The authors concluded that variability of cultural beliefs and practices existed in these domains among a fairly homogeneous sampling of Filipinos (young, educated, nursing students, Visayan).