A phenomenological study of culture brokering in ethnic Chinese nurses: Toward a synergy of identity reconnection.

摘要

This study explored ethnic Chinese nurses' lived experience of acting as culture-brokers within the Western Medicine context of the Chinese Community. A hermeneutic phenomenological design from the perspective of van Manen informed by the writings of Husserl, Heidegger and Gadamer was utilized to generate the meaning of Chinese nurses' experience in culture-brokering. Data were generated and analyzed through conversational interviews and dialogic interpretation of the transcribed interviews.;Twelve Chinese nurse participants, with 4--27 years of clinical experience, were interviewed to determine their experience. The entire descriptive and interpretive process involved five levels of reflection. The first three levels were reflection on the data; texts from participants' narratives about their culture-brokering experience yielded phenomenological descriptive findings of four categories of brokering. The four categories were: (1) need not, (2) dare not, (3) ought not, and (4) why not. Within these four categories of brokering were fourteen meta-themes evolved describing the psychological readiness, nurses' decision-making process and actions toward brokering.;The fourth and fifth levels of reflection were the interpretive hermeneutic phase of this study. At the fourth level of reflection, the research findings were compared with the literature which directed the proposed study. Three overarching themes evolved, including (1) role obligation, (2) organizational hegemony, and (3) identity dissonance. Interpretive hermeneutic analysis continued at the fifth level of analysis as the research findings pointed the researcher to other related literature for further exploration and understanding of the findings. Finally an overarching meaning of the culture-brokering experience emerged: The synergy of identity reconnection.;Identity reconnection, moments where the identity of the Chinese nurse in both worlds (Chinese and Nursing) are re-united, serves as a synergy that explains the momentum, energy and excitement for participants in this study to broker between the two cultures. This study supports findings indicating there are intrapersonal conflicts inherent in culture brokering. The findings of this study have particular value for understanding nurses' psychological readiness and decision-making towards brokering within the Western medical institution. The knowledge and understanding of nurses' experience of culture brokering provides direction for future work in nursing practice, curriculum planning, and health policy making.