Mwende Kabotu: Going With Cultural Humility for International Nursing Student Experiences

Purpose:

                The purpose of this presentation is to present the efficacy of going with cultural humility in international experiences for nursing students.  Cultural humility may be one way to decrease disparities by increasing awareness of social justice. Disparities in health care suggest a need for greater social justice in national and international health care systems.  Nurses are uniquely involved with disparities since the nursing profession has emphasized social justice not only as a moral value but also as the foundation for social action.  Social justice, however, may be difficult to conceptualize, especially for nursing students.  Since cultural humility has been identified as an important aspect for decreasing disparities, it may be a vehicle or tool students could use for the social action necessary for social justice. 

                A thesis research project focusing on nursing students’ perceptions of cultural competence and social justice was completed.  The implications of the research have guided further international experiences to focus on the efficacy of cultural humility.

Methods:

                A focused ethnographic design was selected for a study involving American and Zambian nursing students.  Interview and focus group data were collected in two phases.  The first phase concentrated on ten American students’ perceptions while in Zambia, Africa during January 2008.  The data included information on the students’ definitions and examples of social justice and cultural competence, along with their journaling and summary papers.  The second phase included Zambian nursing students’ and tutors’ perceptions, obtained again through focus groups for the students and interviews with the tutors during June 2008.

Results:

                Emergent themes were identified.  The American students’ perceptions and themes suggested that a change in view, like the twist of a kaleidoscope, along with self-awareness, aids understanding cultural sensitivity and competence, which in turn aids implementation of social justice.  The Zambian students’ perspectives suggested that professional competence is practicing “as a nurse” which incorporates cultural competence and social justice. 

Conclusions:

Implications from the study included the addition of cultural humility as a concept when discussing cultural competence and social justice.  Therefore, continuing international experiences for nursing students have focused on going with cultural humility so as to decrease ethnocentrism and disparities.