Cross-cultural analysis for conceptual understanding:: English and Spanish perspectives

Culture and primary language provides the context for understanding between the patient and the nurse and therefore is part of the foundation for nursing care. Knowledge development in nursing is predicated on mutual understanding and interpretation of language. Concept development has been identified as one of the approaches to the development of nursing knowledge. Since the process of concept analysis is based on understanding a phenomenon through language and experiences, this process is culture-bound and language-specific. The purpose of this column is to discuss the value of interviews with people from two different cultures resulting in an attempt to develop nursing knowledge with international relevance. An example of an analysis of a concept, worry, is provided, and the effects of culture and language on this nursing concept are discussed. The analysis was the result of collaboration among nurses from Mexico and the United States of America.