Adapting Leininger’s Sunrise Model to Understand the Culture of Clinical Teaching

Introduction: This article describes how a focused ethnography adapted Leininger’s Sunrise Model (LSM) as a research enabler. The study sought to understand nursing’s culture and its dynamics with nursing students. Methods: LSM is a framework for conducting research with a cultural group to understand nursing’s roles in providing them care. Similarly, this focused ethnography sought to identify nursing’s culture and gain understanding of its role in providing clinical education. Results: The adapted LSM was useful to explore the culture of the environment where nursing students’ formation takes place, the nurses’ perceptions of enculturation of nursing students, and that perception’s effects on clinical teaching. Discussion: The adapted LSM guided discovery and assessment of cultural data among staff nurses to gain understanding of their influences on nursing students’ formation. Research results will inform academic and clinical partners about staff nurses’ perceptions of enculturation and formation in preparing nursing students for practice.