Compadrazgo, "coparenthood," is a traditional ritual fictive kinship system that provides a network of mutually supportive relationships in the Mexican American culture. A literature search of CINAHL, Medline, PsychoInfo, and Web of Science was used to identify peer-reviewed journals and original sources. Keywords included comadre, compadrazgo, fictive kin, social support, Mexican, and Mexican American. Additional resources were identified through a focused review of references. Findings from this study indicate knowledge about compadrazgo, is limited to the social organization, historical practices, and a preliminary description of the compadres role. Minimal information is available about the relationship between compadrazgo, and health, and variations in roles and responsibilities of compadrazgo, participants. Frequency of enactment of compadrazgo, responsibilities and barriers to the enactment of social support by compadres remain unknown. Variations in practice have not been explored. Nursing implication include the recommended ways that compadrazgo, can be encouraged or promoted in patient care.

Purpose: To verify and explicate the impact of marianismo beliefs on the physical activity behaviors of immigrant Latinas. Design/Method: Twenty-eight immigrant Latinas, aged 18 to 40 years, were recruited to participate in two focus group interviews. Data collection and analysis were driven by Spradley’s Developmental Research Sequence. Results: Two domain terms were identified: "Life is too fast here" and "The woman is the center of the family." Six included terms and five cultural themes were specified. Discussion/Conclusions: A combination of marianismo beliefs, acculturation stress, loss of social support, and conflicts between collectivist and individualist values combine to adversely influence physical activity behaviors of immigrant Latinas. Implications for Practice: Physical activity interventions for Hispanic women should capitalize on the strengths of the marianista, address factors leading to acculturation stress among women and their families, and establish bridges of social support among new groups of immigrants.

Purpose/Design: This qualitative study used focus group methodology to explore attitudes and beliefs of Hispanics regarding hypertension prevention behaviors. Method: The sample was composed of 17 participants from varied Hispanic backgrounds. The theory of planned behavior guided interview questions. Findings: Analysis indicated that participants were knowledgeable about and had a positive attitude toward preventing hypertension. However, they identified numerous barriers to preventive behaviors. Two key themes, limited resources (e.g., no time to prepare healthy meals or exercise) and cultural expectations and values (e.g., traditional food as a marker of ethnicity, hospitality, and affection; valuing social interaction over solitary exercise) summarized significant barriers to engaging in recommended preventive behaviors. Discussion/Conclusions: Findings suggest that literature about lack of knowledge about hypertension prevention in Hispanics may be outdated or not applicable to many Hispanics. Select resource and cultural barriers to engaging in hypertension prevention behaviors are important areas to target. Implications for Practice: Exercise, stress reduction, and diet modification strategies for hypertension prevention among Hispanics should be consistent with the cultural norms regarding the importance of social interactions and leisure.

Cultural safety emerged in Aotearoa, New Zealand as a nursing response to bicultural interactions between indigenous Maori and other New Zealanders. The purpose of this research is to describe the meaning and experience of cultural safety as depicted by nurses in New Zealand and to illustrate the potential for this to inform U.S. nursing education and practice. This interpretive hermeneutic study explored cultural safety as described by 12 experienced nurses who were selected through snowball and purposive sampling. Audiotaped interviews were conducted after ethics approval. Interpretive analysis uncovered five themes that are described with data and paradigm cases. Cultural safety considers the perspective of the patient as the norm in contrast to the culture of health care. Understanding historical power differences and personal biases can help challenge victim-blaming responses by health care providers. Incorporating these understandings into reflective practice enhances the possibility of culturally safe learning for students and culturally safe care for patients.

The study was conducted (a) to assess use of any smoking cessation medications, (b) to identify factors associated with smoking, and (c) to assess knowledge of the health effects of smoking and attitudes toward smoking and seeking help for quitting among Vietnamese Americans. This is a descriptive study conducted with a nonrepresentative sample of 163 Vietnamese Americans. Current and former smokers constituted 24.4% and 25.6% of men and 1.2% and 3.5% of women, respectively. Of 20 current smokers, 17 (85%) reported use of cessation medications in their past quit attempts. Acculturation was the only significant correlate of ever smoking (vs. never smoking) in multivariate logistic regression analyses. Men who were less acculturated had more than 5 times the odds of being ever smokers (odds ratio = 5.33, 95% confidence interval = 1.37-20.78) compared with more acculturated men. Most participants had correct knowledge of the health effects of smoking regardless of age, education level, and smoking status. Attitudes toward smoking differed by age and education level but not by smoking status. Nurses working with Vietnamese Americans should be aware of the high rate of smoking among male immigrants and provide smoking cessation interventions.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between acculturation and health status among Arab Americans in southern California. Design: A cross-sectional survey with 297 adult Arab Americans used (a) a demographic and health survey, SF-36 Version-1, to assess physical and mental health and (b) the Acculturation Rating Scale for Arab Americans-II to assess acculturation. Findings: Participants reported significantly better physical health and worse mental health compared to the published norm for the 1998 U.S. population. Better physical health was associated with demographic factors and bicultural identification; better mental health was associated with attraction to American culture. Attraction to American culture predicted alcohol use, whereas attraction to Arabic culture predicted cigarette smoking. Conclusion: Different patterns of association existed between acculturation and physical and mental health among Arab Americans. Implications for Practice: Findings suggest that acculturation is an important factor to consider in the well-being of Arab Americans, especially in their mental health.

Purpose: Long standing problems are apparent in professional nursing in Iraq. This is a critical point in time and feedback and input from nurses will be important in advancing the profession. Design: A questionnaire was used to explore the attitudes of faculty members about professional nursing, women’s roles and nursing, and the Iraqi Nurses Association. The questionnaire was administered to 31 faculty members at the College of Nursing, University of Baghdad. Findings: The respondents reported the poor image of Iraqi nursing and the relationship between physicians and nurses as the most immediate problems facing the profession. The respondents are not active in their professional association and believe that the association is not addressing current problems. Profound changes are needed in professional nursing before nurses can play significant roles in the Iraqi health care system.

Purpose: To examine the validity and reliability of the Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale–Korean Version (CDSES-K) in 380 Korean adults with three chronic diseases: arthritis, diabetes, and hypertension. Methods: The Korean translated CDSES-K was back-translated to ensure translation equivalency. A methodological research design was used with exploratory factor analysis for validity and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for reliability. Results: The factor analysis identified eight CDSES-K factors explaining 72.5% of the total variance. The internal consistency reliability for the total instrument was high with Cronbach’s alpha of .93. Conclusion: The results support the cross-cultural applicability of the concepts underlying the CDSES-K and the self-efficacy transcends across cultures. Implications: The CDSES-K can be used not only to assess self-efficacy in Koreans with chronic diseases but also to examine the potential function of self-efficacy in improvement of self-management behaviors and enhanced health status of people with chronic diseases in a variety of clinical settings.

Purpose: This study compared postpartum depression and parental self-efficacy between married immigrant women from Vietnam and native Korean mothers. Method: The participants were 72 native Korean mothers and 69 immigrant Vietnamese mothers living in a suburban city in South Korea. The instruments used were the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Parent Expectation Survey. Results: There were statistically significant differences in age, education, employment, income, husband’s age, and family structure between the two groups. Immigrant Vietnamese mothers experienced higher levels of postpartum depression (t = –3.466, p = .001) and had lower parental self-efficacy (t = 5.607, p < .001) than native Korea mothers. Postpartum depression was negatively correlated with parental self-efficacy in native Korean mothers (r = –.349, p = .003), but there was no significant correlation in the immigrant Vietnamese mothers (r = .011, p = .936). The mothers’ country of origin, whether immigrant or Korean, was a significant factor in postpartum depression (β = .338, p = .040; R 2 = .091). The mothers’ country of origin had no effect on parental self-efficacy (p = .957). Instead, significant differences were found for the age, education level, and family structure of the participant (R 2 = .036). Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that postpartum depression was more prevalent among married immigrant women from Vietnam than among native Korean mothers. Accordingly, a postpartum depression intervention program for married immigrant women should be developed and implemented.

Guided by the cultural competence and confidence (CCC) model, the Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool (TSET) was used to evaluate the influence of cultural competence education on the transcultural self-efficacy (TSE) perceptions of undergraduate nursing students following an integrated approach to cultural competence education. Results continue to support that TSE is influenced by formalized education and other learning experiences. As hypothesized, compared with novice students, advanced students’ scores were higher for all subscales in both cross-sectional (n = 147) and longitudinal (n = 36) study designs. Results from analysis of variance and covariance demonstrated that none of the demographic variables predicted change; semester was the sole predictor, lending additional support that (a) the educational interventions throughout the four semesters influenced TSE changes and (b) all students regardless of background benefit (and require) formalized cultural competence education. Implications for nurse educators conclude the article.

Purpose: Cultural competence is an expectation of professional practice, yet effectively teaching this concept to nursing students is challenging. The purpose of this study was to assess the use of a virtual community as a teaching application to foster cultural awareness among nursing students. Method: This correlational study involved the collection of two surveys from 342 first-semester students from five baccalaureate nursing programs that used The Neighborhood virtual community during one semester. Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed. Findings and Conclusions: Results suggest that use of the virtual community may have contributed to cultural awareness among student participants. There was a significant correlation between frequency of use and cultural awareness. Virtual communities may represent a useful teaching application for cultural competence in nursing education. Further research is needed to specifically test cultural competence education strategies using a virtual community platform.

Change in health behaviors requires motivation on the part of the individual. The aim of this article is to compare elements of the motivation process across cultures. A secondary aim is to determine whether a Western model of behavior change for health promotion, such as the PRECEDE–PROCEED model, can be applied to Asian populations. An integrative review and critical analysis of research literature was done by reviewing 20 studies with observational survey design and 6 integrative literature reviews. Findings show that the motivation process is similar for Eastern and Western cultures, but the motivators are different. The findings identify 10 motivators, congruent with Asian culture, that would allow the PRECEDE–PROCEED model to be used in Asian settings.