Paper
Sunday, November 4, 2007
148
Self-Efficacy and Cultural Competence in Undergraduate Nursing Students
Jessie M. Colin, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, Barry University, Miami Shores, FL, USA
| Learning Objective #1: explain the degree to which undergraduate student’s level of self-efficacy related to their providing cultural competent care |
| Learning Objective #2: discuss the effect of certain demographic variables (age, gender, language, ethnicity, and income) on undergraduate student’s Transcultural Self-Efficacy. |
For the past five years (2002 – 2007) Barry University School of Nursing (BUSON) has received HRSA grant funding, for a Learning Achievement Program (LAP). The grant promoted the recruitment and retention of minority and disadvantaged transfer students into nursing by providing a number of support services. A 2-year continuation grant - Barry Advances Nursing Diversity (BAND) – was funded in 2005, adding the initiative of recruiting more students from high school. This grant subsumed LAP students in order to continue to provide academic support services to ensure academic success, and also implemented strategies across the curriculum to increase cultural competence among nursing students and faculty. The placement of more nurses who reflect the cultural diversity of the state and country into the workforce is the overall goal of these two projects. The purposes of this study includes the assessment of: (a) the degree to which the grant’s objectives were successful in promoting cultural competence among multicultural students; (b) undergraduate student’s level of self-efficacy related to their providing cultural competent care; (c) changes in Transcultural Self-Efficacy (TSE) overtime in undergraduate students; (d) the effect of certain demographic variables (age, gender, language, ethnicity, and income) on undergraduate student’s TSE. The characteristic of self-efficacy, or “…the belief that one can perform and succeed at learning a specific task despite obstacles and hardships” (Jeffreys, 2006. p. 31) will be a concept measured in this study. The results of this descriptive, cross sectional, correlational study may guide the SON in developing carefully planned educational interventions; strategies to increase cultural awareness and desire; opportunities for interactions with culturally diverse clients and peers from diverse backgrounds will be presented.