Abstract

CANO-CABALLERO GALVEZ, María Dolores; MARTINEZ POZO, María; LAZUEN ALCON, María Angustias  and  URBANO GARCIA, Guillermina. Diversity and Diet in Hospital: Design of a Questionnaire on Assessment of Cultural Adaptation. Index Enferm [online]. 2008, vol.17, n.2, pp.87-91. ISSN 1699-5988.

A reality nowadays is the increase of immigrant population in hospitals so, we must adapt, our attentions, as nurses, to the necessities of the patients we care for. Objectives: to assess the possibilities of introducing participative methodology in order to face social-health problems within the frame of a health institution; to assess the capacity of hospital nursing Units in order to introduce culturally adapted attentions; to design and introduce assessments of the patient’s cultural adaptation levels regarding diet in the nursing registers. A methodology based on action-participation was used, where actors became active participants in the research. On the one hand, the collaborators of the current study were immigrants, who had told us about their experiences with hospital diet. Methodology was based on discussion groups and they participated in workshops celebrated in the hospital kitchen as experts in the elaboration of the most representative dishes of their culture. On the other part, some nurses were asked to participate in carrying out the questionnaire on cultural adaptation regarding diet, a participation that was validated afterwards. Finally, kitchen staff also collaborated in these activities. Groups of immigrants allowed us to get closer to their experiences regarding diet, and also to learn in the workshops how to prepare traditional dishes of their countries of origin. Nurses and specialists collaborated through focal groups to find variables that could determine the degree of cultural adaptation of the person we were caring for. It is not yet easy to introduce changes in hospitals to achieve that attentions will be adapted to other cultures. The incorporation of assessment scales on cultural adaptation can be a first resource for nurses to get aware of the cultural differences of the population they are caring for.

Keywords : Diet; Cultural Diversity; Questionnaire on Assessment; Cultural Adaptation; Immigrant population; Participative research.