Cultural care of Thai immigrants in Uppsala: a study of transcultural nursing in Sweden.

The purpose of this study was to discover and describe the meanings and expressions of cultural care of a group of Thai immigrants in Sweden. Participants included 15 key informants and 24 general informants living in and around the town of Uppsala. The conceptual framework was provided by Leininger's theory of cultural care diversity and universality. Use was made of the ethnonursing method and the Sunrise Model in the search for multiple and related dimensions that influenced the generic and professional care practices of the Thai immigrants. Four major themes were formulated. Thus, care (a) means family and kinship relationships as expressed in daily life, (b) is expressed in traditional gender roles, (c) means religious beliefs as expressed in the Buddhist worship, and (d) means support of traditional health care practices. These themes support the cultural care theory and also confirm the Sunrise Model.