The Muslim community as a client: a narrative review of the literature

Abstract

Introduction
Culture is a person's circumstance and shapes their experience of the world and life. It is represented by patterns of behavior, with repercussions on health processes. It is a central issue when we think about nursing care centered on the person, family or community. In Portugal, immigrant communities have shown a growing and challenging trend in the provision of nursing care. Some of the main immigrant communities come from countries with a majority Muslim population - Guinea, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The use of cultural competence models contributes to the development of nurses' cultural competence and to the promotion of self-care and community health.

Objective
Discuss the influence of Muslim culture and beliefs on health behaviors.

Methods
Narrative literature review, in the CINHAL complete database. Search conducted on 01/06/2024. Search terms: (TI muslim OR islam OR islamic OR AB muslim OR islam OR Islamic OR MH muslim OR islam OR islamic) AND (TI health beliefs OR AB health beliefs OR MH health beliefs). Limiter: full text, publications in the last 5 years. We organized the data collected from the articles according to Purnell's model of cultural competence.

Results
We had a total of 114 articles, 6 of which were duplicates. Of the 109 articles remaining, after applying the exclusion criteria, we analyzed 54 articles. Five domains of the model were analyzed: spirituality, family roles and organization, health-care practices, pregnancy, and death rituals. For each of these domains, we identified specific features of Muslim culture.

Conclusion
The Muslim community makes health decisions based on spirituality and the beliefs and values that emerge from this. The use of cultural competence models in nursing promotes person-, family- and community-centered care.