Archivos de Medicina
Carta al Editor
Promoci de la atenci transcultural en estudiantes de enfermería.
Anjye Carolina Cicua Castañeda1, Isabel Wilchez Vargas2, Carlos Arturo Pineda Barrera3
Recibido para publicaci: 30-10-2025. Versi corregida: 24-02-2026. Aprobado para publicaci: 10-03-2026.
Cicua Castada A.C., Wilchez Vargas I.W., Pineda Barrera C.A. Promoting cross-cultural care in nursing students. Arch Med (Manizales). 2026;26(1). https://doi.org/10.30554/archmed.26.1.5529.2026
Care is a human activity characterised as a relationship and process whose goal goes beyond illness. In nursing, care is considered the essential core of the field and encompasses not only the recipient but also the nurse who provides it (1).
Transcultural nursing is a fundamental discipline that addresses the cultural values, beliefs, and practices linked to care, which significantly influence the care that patients receive. This approach highlighted the lack of cultural preparation in the training of nursing professionals and emphasised the importance of providing care that respects and adapts to the cultural diversity of each individual. (2)
Leininger’s transcultural perspective offers a humanistic and comprehensive approach to newborn care, considering and respecting the cultural values, beliefs, and practices of women and their families as an essential part of the care process. By recognising them as an essential part of our
1 Estudiante de enfermería, Fundaci Universitaria de San Gil-Sede Yopal. San Gil, Yopal, Colombia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5265-2567 . Correo electrico: anjyecicua122@unisangil.edu.co .
2 Estudiante de enfermería, Fundaci Universitaria de San Gil-Sede Yopal. San Gil, Yopal, Colombia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1632-4411 . Correo electrico: isabelwilches@unisangil.edu.co .
3 Enfermero Magister en Educaci, Fundaci Universitaria de San Gil-Sede Yopal. San Gil, Yopal, Colombia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9336-4477 . Correo electrico: cpineda2@unisangil.edu.co .
culture, the aim is not to compare different types of knowledge but to integrate them as a basis for guiding care. Thus, the construction of cultural knowledge is strengthened through the interaction between traditional practices and nursing knowledge (3).
According to Madeleine Leininger’s theory of cultural care, it is the ethical and professional duty of nurses to help mothers and their families recognise early warning signs, risk factors, and possible complications in both the mother and the newborn. In addition, they must learn how to care for themselves and their babies, avoiding cultural conflicts and incorporating their values, beliefs, and practices to detect and anticipate their state of health and well-being (4).
In light of the above, it is extremely important to mention the reflective study proposed by Pineda-Barrera, published in this journal in Vol. 25 No. 2 (2025), in which he sought to present a point of view from the perspective of nursing professionals on newborn care, based on the transcultural theory of nursing proposed by Leininger (5).
For nurses in training, Leininger’s theory of transcultural care allows them to provide optimal care and humanised attention that respects family customs, without neglecting the safety and well-being of the child, according to each child’s needs. Thus, nursing professionals are required to acquire knowledge about the culture with which each family seeking health services identifies. Therefore, it is important to understand that care cannot be uniform, but rather must remember that nursing is not only based on scientific knowledge, but also on an understanding of the patient’s sociocultural context.