Filippiiniläisen sairaanhoitajan tie kohti suomalaisen työyhteisön jäsenyyttä
Keywords:
Work community, dialectical adaptation, sociocultural adaptation, situated learning, Filipino nurseAbstract
Refereed article
International recruiting is increasing in many Finnish social and health care organizations as the baby boomer generations reach the age of retirement. In the past few years, Finland has become increasingly active in the recruitment of nurses particularly from the Philippines. This article addresses the following questions: What kinds of cultural learning are taking place in multicultural health care workplaces? What factors are seen to promote or hinder intercultural learning and adaptation? The research data was collected through semi-structured interviews in Finnish health care organizations in 2011 and 2014. The data consist of 45 health professionals’ interviews. Both Filipino nurses and their colleagues and superiors were interviewed. In the analysis situated learning theory and sociocultural adaptation theory as well as the model of dialectical intercultural adaptation were applied. The research findings show that the need for two-way intercultural adaptation has not been internalized in the examined work communities, but learning and adapting are mainly seen as responsibilities of foreign newcomers. Requirements stated by the Finnish health professionals to their Filipino colleagues are rather obvious: they should have learned Finnish working life language as well as Finnish professional practices in the pre-departure training, and the learning process should continue rapidly in the workplaces. In order to obtain a full membership in the work community a foreign nurse should have a good command in Finnish language and should actively adapt to the Finnish cultural habits and professional practices.
