Developing a Cultural Competence Assessment Instrument for Unit Managers in Public Sector Hospitals in Gauteng

 

ABSTRACT

South Africa is a culturally diverse nation composed of different nationalities and cultures. The management or lack thereof, of this cultural diversity and its impact on the work environment and patient outcomes are important issues in nursing in the midst of changing health care systems and patient needs. Nurses are ethically and legally bound to care for patients from all nationalities and cultures irrespective of their age, gender, race and sexual orientation. This means that these nurses have to render culturally sensitive nursing care and cater for the diverse needs of their patients. It is the role of the unit manager to enable frontline nurses to be culturally competent to ensure patients receive good quality nursing care and that nurses have a healthy work environment. 

The purpose of the study is to develop a cultural competence assessment instrument to identify and manage cultural competence in nursing units in Public sector hospitals in Gauteng. This is a mixed method study using the exploratory sequential research design.  The instrument development variant of the exploratory sequential design will be used. This variant will be used as a cultural competence assessment instrument will be developed during this study. This study will be based on a model by Campinha-Bacote (1998) called “The Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare Services”.  It will be conducted in four phases linked to the four objectives of the study. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods will be used in this study. Ethical considerations, trustworthiness and validity will be taken into account. 

Phase one data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 21 patients. The data were analysed using Tesch’s eight steps of data analysis and Atla-ti version 7 was also utilised for data analysis and management. The research framework was used as a template during data analysis and identification of themes. The results of phase one of the study confirmed that most of the patients thought that culture is an important concept for patients and that their cultural needs should be catered for by nurses during their hospital stay. Various cultural needs of patients were identified. This included the patients’ perceptions of the role of nurses and unit managers in ensuring cultural competence in nursing units of public sector hospitals in the Gauteng Province of South Africa.