Culture, values and racism: application to nursing

Abstract

The prevention and management of cancer have been identified as health priorities in most countries. In order to achieve this, many oncology nurses need to face the additional challenge of caring for patients from different cultures. This article progresses beyond previous literature, which generally adopts a solely multicultural approach, and explores the concepts of culture, values and racism with inter-related concepts such as self-awareness, cultural encounter, skills and cultural knowledge and their relationship to cancer nursing practice. The case is then argued for enhancing patient care through the application of these concepts to nursing practice.