Effectiveness of Cultural Competency Training of Registered Nurses

In culturally diverse health care, cultural competence is the foundation for quality healthcare, as it has the potential to advance health outcomes and increase client satisfaction. Cultural Competency Training (CCT) is proven to be a practical approach to facilitate communication and cooperation, and to foster client-nurse relationship leading to better health outcomes. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of cultural competency training in increasing the cultural sensitivity and cultural skills of registered nurses. The workshop included evidence-based educational training using Campinha-Bacote's model of cultural competence, which is intended to increase cultural sensitivity and cultural skills of staff. The pretest/posttest tool, Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competency Among Healthcare Professionals, Revised (IAPCC-R), is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. IAPCC-R is a 25-item tool that uses a 4-point Likert-type scale to measure the five components of Campinha-Bacote’s cultural competence model: cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill, cultural encounter, and cultural desire (Campinha-Bacote, 2011). Several independent investigators evaluated the tool aimed at its validity and reliability and found to have established the reliability of Cronbach’s alpha 0.83 (Delgado et al., 2013; Kardong-Edgren et al., 2010). Multiple researchers reported that a panel of experts in transcultural nursing established the validity of the tool (Delgado et al., 2013; Loftin, Hartin, Branson, & Reyes, 2014). Data Analysis is still in progress. Results are pending. CCT is proven to increase cultural awareness; cultural skills, cultural knowledge, cultural encounters, and cultural desire of nurses to deliver quality care to enhance health outcomes, which is to be measured using the data from the IAPCC-R Pre-test/post-test result. Cultural competence is a continuing learning process, and the increased awareness and cultural knowledge will enable the staff to make the cultural assessment to provide culturally appropriate care to improve health outcomes (Elminowski, 2015). This project may serve as a catalyst for incorporating cultural competency training into hospital-wide orientation for new hires and annual training. The significance of the findings from this project will substantiate that the culturally competent nurses play an essential role in facilitating communication and improving the patient experience.