Nursing Education Approaches to Enhance the Inter- and Intra-Cultural Competence of Nurses Serving in Africa

There are many good-will foreign nurses currently providing or planning to provide nursing care to the native people of Africa. Some of these nurses have implemented innovative evidence-based practice strategies to improve health outcomes of their African clients. However, the effectiveness of the foreign nurses has been hampered by their lack of inter- and intra-cultural competence. Africa with its 54 individual countries, over 7,000 major tribes and 1,500 spoken languages, has unique inter-and intra-cultures. The genetic and inter- and intra-cultural diversity among the native African inhabitants is greater than the rest of the world. It is imperative that the foreign nurses who choose as a career or volunteer to provide healthcare services in Africa be inter- and intra-culturally competent. An inter- and intra-culturally competent nurse is one who is professionally equipped with inter- and intra-cultural knowledge, attitudes, skills and aspirations to provide care to clients with inter- and intra-cultural differences. Therefore, the inter- and intra-cultural competence professional training should be a pre-requisite for providing nursing care in Africa by foreign nurses. The effectiveness of such training should be measured in terms of demonstrable positive shifts in the nurse’s inter-and intra-cultural knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations (inter- and intra-KASA) to meet the diverse nursing care needs of the African clients. Such shifts would come about through professional nursing education that is specifically designed to meet the complex challenges in providing inter- and intra- culturally competent nursing care to the African clients. The effectiveness of the professional nursing education on positive inter- and intra-KASA shifts should be measured in terms of inter-and intra- ethnic, racial, tribal, and linguistic competence levels of the nurses. When nurses provide inter- and intra-culturally competent nursing care, patients tend to welcome and adhere to nursing care and advice, resulting in improved health outcomes. However, one of the challenges is how to assess the inter- and intra-KASA shifts and the resultant inter-and intra-cultural competence levels of the nurses. Current assessment tools are most suited for cross-cultural or multicultural competence or merely cultural competence, cultural awareness or cultural sensitivity. There is need to develop cultural assessment tools that can measure inter- and intra-cultural competence and allow for self-reflection and awareness to the reality of cultural development, attitudes, and values of the nurse and for the examination of department policies, procedures, and curriculum design with the goal to graduate inter- and intra-culturally competent nurses. The purpose of this presentation is to provide professional nursing education approaches that will bring about positive inter- and intra-KASA changes in nurses and these changes are a pre-requisite to providing inter-and intra-culturally competent care to the African inhabitants. It is hoped that by the end of the presentation, attendees will understand the inter- and intra- cultural competence concepts and appreciate the need for inter- and intra-culturally competent nursing care, develop inter-and intra-professional education approaches that increase the inter-and intra-cultural competence of nurses, and assess the inter- and intra-cultural competence levels of nurses. Inter- and intra-cultural nursing education will enhance global nursing interconnectedness and promote the health of inter-and intra-diverse communities.