Central to providing culturally appropriate nursing care is sensitivity to and knowledge about the group being cared for. Although "mental health" and "mental illness" are artificial concepts among people who do not differentiate and treat mind, body, and spirit separately, and who may not differentiate illness from other problems of living, many individuals ethnically rooted in one or more Asian cultures enter Western mental health care systems. Quality nursing care requires understanding and respect for traditional values, beliefs, and practices that may differ significantly from those typical of Western European-based societies. Whether clients are traditional in orientation or highly acculturated to Western ways, nurses are responsible for providing culturally appropriate care. This article discusses mental health and nursing care from various perspectives of Asian and Asian-American clients, and in particular those of Chinese descent.

Addressing how nurses become culturally competent is essential for knowledge development beyond why sociocultural understandings are important. This article reports participatory research conducted during intercultural immersion learning experiences of non-native nurses on an Indian reservation. Emphasizing collaborative relationships within unfamiliar social, political, and economic circumstances, and using Diekelmann's "concernful practices" as an organizing scheme, prompted participants to explicate practices that promote intercultural connecting. Suggesting integral shifts in value orientations with changes in cultural competence, the findings argue for attending to associations between those dynamics and potential for developing co-responsibility (with consumer groups) for advocating improved health and health care.

The objective of the present ethnographic study was to describe the eating behaviors of elderly persons with hyperlipidemia. Twenty-one elderly subjects with hyperlipidemia and their relatives volunteered to be included in the study. Focus group and in-depth interviews with participant observations were used for data collection. Each transcript from interviews and observations were analyzed using content analysis. Subjects were asked to validate findings and ethical considerations were maintained throughout the study. When discussing the meaning of food, three themes emerged: (i) substances make people strong or healthy; (ii) food is like medicine and; (iii) food causes illness. Most subjects had learned about food and nutrition from their parents or relatives and from school. Regarding food procurement, most bought food such as fish or other seafood, meat and eggs from the fresh markets nearby almost daily. All subjects cooked their own traditional northern Thai food, such as Hung-le (northern curry) and preferred seasoning such as fish sauce, pepper and herbs. They ate when they were hungry or after they had finished working. The present study reflected that northern Thai culture strongly influences the participants' eating behaviors.

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The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an AIDS education intervention for methadone-dependent, African American women. The women were randomly assigned to experimental (n=107) or control (n=97) group. The experimental group participated in a peer counseling and leadership training program conducted by two experienced nurse counselors over an 8-week period, followed by 8 weeks of reinforcement. The program was designed to reduce AIDS high-risk sexual behavior, increase self-esteem, decrease depressive affect, and increase the women's community-based AIDS prevention communication activities. A total of 130 women completed all phases of the study, including longitudinal Posttests at 2, 4, and 7 months after enrollment. Compared to the control group, there were statistically significant differences in three of the outcomes for the experimental group: The experimental group reported an increased number of safer sexual behaviors (p=.029), showed decreases in depression (p=.001), and reported engaging in more AIDS-related, community-based communication activities regarding prevention (p=.005).

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This research-based article analyzes institutionalized inequity and discrimination in the forms of sexism and racism within a large, busy, contemporary medical center's Department of Psychiatry. Within that context, issues of control and mechanisms of avoidance served to perpetuate contradictions inherent in what professes to be a psychologically therapeutic and empowering milieu. Despite cognizance of the roles that culture and gender play in care and treatment of patients, psychiatric and mental health professionals at "Central" tended to avoid critical examination of their own and co-workers' ethnicity and gender as those characteristics influenced life experiences, occupational roles and statuses, and hierarchical relationships.