Sunrise Model- Depicts the Inter-relationships of Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory and it

Illustrates the major components of Leininger’s Theory.

Figure 1. Sunrise Model

• Theory’s Purpose & Goal The model is not the theory per se but depicts factors influencing care.

• These factors needed to be included for culturallycompetent care. Hence, the Sunrise Model was created (Leininger, 1997).

– culture care meanings– practices – factors influencing care:

-religion, politics, economics, worldview, environment, cultural values, history, language, gender, and others.

• To discover and explain diverse and universal culturally based care factors influencing the health, well-being, illness, or death of individuals or groups.

Purpose & Goal: To use research findings to provide culturally congruent, safe, and meaningful care to clients of diverse or similar cultures

Literature of the Sunrise Model, Explained (excerpt from Parker, 2001)

The Sunrise Model (Figure 1) was developed to give a holistic and comprehensive conceptual pictureof the major factors held as important to the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality(Leininger, 1995, 1997a). The model is a conceptual visual guide depicting multiple factors predicted toinfluence culturally congruent care with people of different cultures. The model essentially serves as acognitive guide for the researcher to visualize and reflect on different factors predicted to influence culturally based care in the discovery process.

The Sunrise Model has also been used as a valuable guide for doing culturalogical health-care assessment of clients’ health needs. As the researcher uses the model, the different factors depicted in the model are kept in mind in relation to discovering culture care phenomena. Gender and sexual orientation, race, class factors, biomedical condition, and the extent of acculturation are all an integral part of the model and theory.

The factors tend to be embedded in social structure, worldview, and other dimensions identified in the Sunrise Model and are usually not quickly identifiable. Hence, they are not isolated variables but are lodged in their natural and meaningful cultural context, yet are important discovery areas within the theory.

According to the researcher’s interests and skills, one can begin the discovery at any place in the model except with the three modes of action and decisions, which are studied last or after drawing upon data collected in the upper part of the model. All factors in the model need to be studied to obtain comprehensive or holistic data in order to arrive at an accurate picture of culturally based care. Some researchers may want to start with generic and professional care, whereas others may begin with the worldview and social structure dimensions.

There is flexibility in the discovery process to fit the informant’s interest and level of comfort as well as the researcher’s goals, domains of inquiry, and research skills. Because three modes of action and decision (in the lower part of the model) are studied and formulated with informants after the

researcher has obtained data in the upper part of the model, the nursing actions or decisions become evident.

The researcher involves informants in the discussion to arrive at appropriate actions, decisions, or plans. Throughout this discovery process, the researcher holds his or her own epic views, resuppositions, and biases in abeyance, so that the informants’ cultural ideas will come forth, because they, rather than the researcher’s views, are important and are the reason for the study. Transcultural nurses are taught, guided, and mentored in ways to withhold and deal with their biases and prejudices through formal courses and clinical experiences in transcultural nursing.