Early in her career as a nurse, Leininger recognized the importance of the concept of “caring” in nursing. Frequent statements of appreciation from pa- tients for care received prompted Leininger to focus on “care” as being a cen- tral component of nursing. During the 1950s, while working in a child guidance home, Leininger experienced what she describes as a cultural shock when she realized that recurrent behavioral patterns in children appeared to have a cultural basis. Leininger identified a lack of cultural and care knowledge as the missing link to nursing’s understanding of the many variations required in patient care to support compliance, healing, and wellness (George, 2002). These insights were the beginnings (in the 1950s) of a new construct and phe- nomenon related to nursing care called transcultural nursing.