Abstract
Introduction: Conservative Anabaptists are a large ethnic religious population that continues to grow in the United States. These groups are known to experience adverse health-related outcomes. Therefore, the concept of transcending health values has been developed to better understand how conservative anabaptists describe seeking and responding to healthcare. The purpose of this study is to (1) gather empirical evidence about the concept of transcending health values and (2) use the evidence to contribute to the body of knowledge of nursing.
Method: The study used qualitative-directed content analysis guided by the core qualities of transcending health values: delay in health-seeking behaviors, comfort in connectedness, and ease in cultural tension. Fourteen participants were recruited from a conservative Anabaptist Beachy Amish Mennonite congregation. Focus groups were utilized. The data were analyzed using directed content analysis by coding based on the three predetermined categories, specific descriptors identified, condensed to meaning units, and lifted to themes.
Results: Ten themes were constructed. Delay in seeking healthcare is waiting to allow the body to heal itself, following natural remedies and over-the-counter medications, seeking guidance within the community, and obtaining medical care only when necessary. Comfort in connectedness is expecting the medical environment to be unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and cold, being unheard and treated like a number, yet desiring to be understood. Ease in cultural tension is trusting those who are humble and open, and partnering to share care responsibilities.
Discussion: Findings from the study were congruent with previous literature about delay in health seeking behaviors, comfort in connectedness, and ease in cultural tension. Findings were also coherent with theoretical and conceptual frameworks and grounded in the discipline of nursing. Implications for future research, practice, and policy include measures to support conservative Anabaptists in receiving culturally congruent healthcare and to provide empirical evidence for those caring for this community.
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Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Public Health and Community Nursing Commons