Nursing practice with Aboriginal communities: expanding worldviews

Nurs Sci Q. 2005 Jul;18(3):259-63. doi: 10.1177/0894318405277632.

Abstract

Through advances in interpretive inquiry, diverse ways of knowing and experiencing reality are increasingly made explicit in nursing literature. Nevertheless, the privileges of empiricism continue alongside a lack of language to consider other realms of reality. In this column, Aboriginal ways of constituting health and reality are explored. Morley's four categorizations of health belief systems provide a useful tool for understanding diverse worldviews. In contrast, Atleo drew on Nuu-chah-nulth origin stories to address the complexities and ambiguities of Aboriginal health beliefs. Approaches for bridging cultural differences are explored with a view toward inclusive healthcare and nursing practice.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Attitude to Health / ethnology*
  • British Columbia
  • Cultural Diversity*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Holistic Health
  • Human Development
  • Humanism
  • Humans
  • Indians, North American / ethnology*
  • Knowledge
  • Medicine, Traditional
  • Models, Nursing
  • Mythology
  • Nurse's Role
  • Nursing Theory
  • Philosophy, Nursing
  • Semantics
  • Transcultural Nursing / organization & administration*
  • Western World