Culturally congruent care

Culturally congruent care is a movement in healthcare to accommodate the belief systems of people of different races, ethnic groups, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, people with disabilities, social classes, and so on. Although pregnancy and birth, sickness, injuries, and death are universal experiences, every culture has unique ways of viewing and treating these occurrences. The modern focus on multiculturalism has highlighted these varied perspectives and the importance of acknowledging, respecting, and working with them within the healthcare profession. Nurses and other medical professionals observe culturally congruent methods by learning about different cultural beliefs and behaviors and attempting to accommodate them whenever it is safe and reasonable.

Overview

Cultures have always held diverse and unique beliefs and customs. In the past, people from one group might have had to compromise their traditional beliefs when receiving medical care from members of another group. In modern times, with the increased focus on multiculturalism and patient-centered care, and with the mixing of people from different lands and backgrounds, health care professionals are working to understand and accommodate the beliefs and customs of their patients while providing the most effective medical treatments.

The movement for culturally congruent care was begun mainly by nursing theorist Madeleine Leininger. Her theories of transcultural nursing were presented in several books, such as Culture Care Diversity & Universality. Leininger expressed the connections among culture, worldview, and medical practice in a chart known as the Sunrise Model. Her theories helped to awaken the medical community to this previously overlooked aspect of patient care.

Culturally congruent care is often discussed in the context of cultural humility, an awareness that a healthcare provider has a limited understanding of other cultures, must continually learn and critique themselves, and must seek to remedy power imbalances. This differs from the concept of cultural competency, which suggests that healthcare providers can master and incorporate the knowledge of other cultures into treatment.

Culturally congruent methods may be observed in any medical facility, ranging from clinics to therapists’ offices to hospitals to hospices. They may be seen during home visits, with the caregiver observing traditional behaviors in a patient’s house. The health care provider should make every attempt to learn about and respect the cultural traditions they encounter. Negotiation with the patient and family is frequently necessary, however, to find ways to ensure that cultural or folk-medicine practices do not inhibit the use of modern medical treatments or place the patient or anyone else in harm. Cultural restructuring or repatterning may be necessary in those cases where those cultural practices do jeopardize the patient or others.

In the United States, health care professionals most frequently encounter cultural differences in the treatment of immigrants, Native Americans, or Pacific Islanders. Some examples of cultural medical beliefs include wearing protective charms or amulets, eating foods believed to have healing qualities, burning candles, or reciting prayers. Generally, any activity should be preserved or maintained unless it would negatively affect the health of the patient or others, in which case it should be negotiated. Cultural norms relating to gender roles, individual and family decision-making, financial matters, and social stigmas around health should be taken into consideration when providing culturally congruent care. Other elements of culturally congruent care include clear, effective communication in the patient’s preferred language; health care providers’ self-awareness of their own sociocultural identities and perspectives; and active trust-building in the medical establishment.

Observing culturally congruent methods may benefit patients in many ways. It demonstrates respect and concern for the patient and their background. It may assist in healing by providing greater comfort and dignity and by satisfying deeply held expectations. On a larger scale, it may help provide better health care to minority groups who were traditionally underserved and misunderstood or exploited by the medical community. Culturally congruent care has been adopted by major medical education groups and is generally considered an important standard in the United States.

Bibliography

Andrews, Margaret M., and Joyceen S. Boyle. Transcultural Concepts in Nursing Care. 5th ed., Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008.

Jeffreys, Marianne R. Teaching Cultural Competence in Nursing and Health Care: Inquiry, Action, and Innovation. Springer Publishing Company, 2006.

Leininger, Madeleine M., and Marilyn R. McFarland. Culture Care Diversity & Universality: A Worldwide Nursing Theory. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2006.

Marion, Lucy, et al. “Implementing the New ANA Standard 8: Culturally Congruent Practice.” Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, vol. 22, no. 1, 18 Nov. 2016, doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No01PPT20. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.

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Schim, Stephanie Myers, and Ardith Z. Doorenbos. “A Three-Dimensional Model of Cultural Congruence: Framework for Intervention.” Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, vol. 6, nos. 3–4, 2010, pp. 256–70, doi:10.1080/15524256.2010.529023. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.

Srivastava, Rani H. The Healthcare Professional’s Guide to Clinical Cultural Competence. Elsevier Canada, 2007.

“Transcultural Nursing.” Current Nursing, 4 Apr. 2020, currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/transcultural_nursing.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.

“What is CLAS?” Think Cultural Health, thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov/clas/what-is-clas. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.