This qualitative study looks to identify the representations that nursing employees maintain about culture, upon developing the care process for families within a unit of multiple-patient rooms. In order to make the study more in-depth, definitions and meanings were extracted from the Anthropology of Health and Symbolic Anthropology. Participative observation and thematic interviews were used in the collection of data. As a result, the data was analyzed and three categories emanated: "the beliefs of families are very interesting"; "the irrelevance and the undervaluing of the family's culture"; and "the place for beliefs is `outside'". The results demonstrate that for workers, the family's culture is interpreted as something residual, irrelevant, and as an obstacle to be overcome. It is presented as something which deserves little status, principally if equipped with sufficient biomedical knowledge to care for women and newborns during their births.
Culture; Obstetric nursing; Multiple-patient rooms; Hospital