Researching cultural competency among baccalaureate nursing students attending a study abroad program in Costa Rica

Ballestas, Helen

Monday, 18 November 2013

Helen Ballestas, PhD, ANP-BC, RN
Maureen Carroll Roller, DNP, ANP-BC, RN
School of Nursing, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY

Learning Objective 1: describe cultural competency components.

Learning Objective 2: compare cultural competence course with study abroad experience.

Background:Cultural competency is an ongoing process; one never reaches the end and is continually learning. It is a process in which the health care professional continually strives to effectively work within the cultural context of a client (an individual, family or community). If institutes of higher education are to produce professional nurses with cultural capability, then students need to be exposed to global experiences. Measuring the effect of a study abroad program is one way to determine its impact on developing students’ cultural competence. To date, few research studies describe outcomes of such strategies. In some published studies, a description of the program or intervention is frequently not offered making it difficult to utilize findings or to replicate them. The subjects attended a pre and post class along with attending a 6-day volunteer student nursing experience in Costa Rica.

Purpose:To measure the effects of a study abroad program utilizing a structured 1 credit volunteer course to improve the cultural competence of baccalaureate nursing students.

Method:Descriptive comparative quantitative design was chosen with a structured questionnaire to measure cultural competency in health care professionals. The Campinha-Bacote’s tool, The Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competency among Healthcare Professionals- Revised (IAPCC-R) used in this study, measured all dimensions of cultural competence.

Results: Eighteen subjects completed the pre and post instrument. The four point Likert scale revealed improvement in cultural competency in 16 of the 18 subjects. The results demonstrated an 89% improvement in cultural competence following this experience.

Conclusions:Short-term, financially feasible study abroad programs can produce changes in cultural competence for nursing undergraduate students. Increased cultural competency was demonstrated after attending the On Site in Costa Rica course. Future research needs to consider second data collection period and comparing traditional learning for cultural content on students’ clinical practice.

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