More and more women from South-east Asia who married Taiwanese men are living in Taiwan. These foreign spouses are starting the transformation of Taiwan into a multicultural society. Nursing students might have some stereotypes of foreign spouses which may affect the caring attitude and quality for foreign spouses. Previous study showed stereotypes of foreign spouses had some significant association with culturally competent nursing care ability in nursing students. The purpose of this experimental study was to 1) assess the effect of a course of transcultural nursing on the change of stereotypes of foreign spouses in nursing students in Taiwan, and 2) examine which teaching strategy was more helpful for decreasing stereotypes.
Methods:
A quasi- experimental study design was applied. A total of 126 eligible nursing students were assigned to group course of transcultural nursing (experimental group) and control group. Students assigned to experimental group received the intervention program (course of transcultural nursing) which contained 16-weeks sections including history, theory and practice of cross-cultural nursing, the influence of stereotype, culturally competent assessment and communication, and management and coordination of cultural conflict, while controlled group did not receive any intervention. All participants completed the consent forms and the questionnaires. A demographic questionnaire, the Stereotype of Foreign Spouse Questionnaire and Teaching Strategies Questionnaire were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by utilizing the SPSS Version 22.0 for Windows including descriptive statistical techniques and T-test.
Results:
126 students in total (65 in the intervention group and 61 in the control group) were recruited in this study. The result revealed course of cross- cultural nursing was effective for significantly reducing stereotypes of foreign spouses (164.32 ± 35.90 → 132.12 ± 32.13) ( T= 8.84, p = 0.000). In addition, students pointed the teaching strategies which were helpful for reducing stereotype included the speech provided by foreign spouse, role play, and visit and interview of foreign spouses.
Conclusion:
The results showed the effectiveness of course of transcultural nursing on reducing stereotypes of foreign spouses in nursing students in Taiwan. The findings can be used in the future to make a better design of transcultural nursing course in nursing college to help nursing students to have fewer stereotypes of foreign spouses and to enhance the knowledge of transcultural nursing for clinical practice. The evidence- based research method can be utilized in other countries to develop appropriate course content for transcultural nursing.