Stress, adaptation, and the black individual: implications for nursing education

It is the responsibility of nurse educators to be knowledgeable regarding the culture of clients and to provide this information to students via relevant classroom and clinical experiences. The nurse educator must provide more than superficial classroom time to the topic of cultural diversity if she/he wants to facilitate students' learning of this content. This pilot study has indicated that the responses selected by black clients when adapting to stressful situations reflect the influence of cultural variables. Recognizing the importance of cultural influences is important because stress can have a debilitating effect on the individual. Nursing interventions to decrease the stress can be effective if the interventions exemplify the cultural background of the client. Knowledge of these variables is attained from curricula which embody and emphasize the cultural uniqueness of individuals.