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 have to improve the multicultural caring competence in order to provide good nursing care quality for foreign spouses. Previous study showed nurses had a middle level of multicultural caring competence and suggested to provide a multifaceted cultural nursing course as part of nursing education for nursing students. The purpose of this quasi- experimental study was to assess the effect of a course of trans-cultural nursing on the change of multicultural caring competence in nursing students in Taiwan.
Methods:
A quasi- experimental study design was applied. A total of 126 eligible nursing students were assigned to group course of trans-cultural nursing (experimental group) and control group. Students assigned to experimental group received the intervention program (course of trans-cultural 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 and the Nurses' Multicultural Caring Competence Scale 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 trans-cultural nursing was effective for significantly increasing multicultural caring competence (92.66 ± 17.00 → 125.47 ± 15.64) ( T= 20.66, p = 0.000). Multicultural caring competence included four dimensions which were cultural consciousness, cultural knowledge, cultural acumen and cultural skills. The four dimensions were all enhanced in this quasi- experimental study.
Conclusion:
The results showed the effectiveness of course of trans-cultural nursing on increasing multicultural caring competence in nursing students in Taiwan. The findings can be used in the future to make a better design of trans-cultural nursing course content in nursing college to help nursing students to improve multicultural caring competence and to enhance trans-cultural nursing quality for clinical practice. The evidence- based research method can be utilized in other countries to develop appropriate course content for trans-cultural nursing.