Puerto Rican cultural beliefs: influence on infant feeding practices in western New York.

The purpose of this study was to examine the cultural beliefs and practices of Puerto Rican families that influence feeding practices and affect the nutritional status of infants and young children. The goal of the study was to outline strategies that would enable nurses to provide culturally congruent care for this population. Culture care theory guided the research, and an ethnonursing methodology was used. From interviews with 10 key and 5 general informants, 11 universal and 2 diverse themes were abstracted. The dimensions of kinship, cultural values, lifeways, and philosophical beliefs were found to influence Puerto Rican infant feeding practices. The cultural belief that big is healthy was found to be integrally related to cultural feeding practices. Strategies are suggested to facilitate provision of culturally congruent care for Puerto Rican infants and children in an ambulatory setting.