Integrating cultural values, beliefs, and customs into pregnancy and postpartum care: Lessons learned from a Hawaiian public health nursing project

Determining the elements of culturally competent health care is an importan t goal for nurses. This goal is particularly integral in efforts to design better preventive health care strategies for pregnant and postpartum women from multiple cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Learning about the values, b eliefs, and customs surrounding health among the targeted groups is essenti al, but integrating this knowledge into the actual health care services del ivery system is more difficult. The success of a prenatal and postpartum pr ogram developed for native Hawaiian, Filipino, and Japanese women in Hawaii has been attributed to the attention on training, direct care giving, and program monitoring participation by local cultural and ethnic healers and n eighborhood leaders living in the community, with coordination by public he alth nurses. This article profiles central design elements with examples of specific interventions used in the Malama Na Wahine or Caring for Pregnant Women program to illustrate a unique approach to the delivery of culturall y competent care.