| Learning Objective #1: Describe an educational program which promotes students' abilities to work sensitively and effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Evaluate quantitative and qualitative data collected to measure transition from an ethnocentric to an ethnorelativist perspective |
Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of an educational intervention to increase nursing students' adaptability to a multicultural context of care.
Design: Pre and post survey of students' cultural competency coupled with content analyses of qualitative data obtained during focus group discussions.
Sample: Students (n~230) from European (Great Britain, Sweden, Finland) and American (Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina)schools of nursing preparing to participate in an international mobility program during 2002.
Concepts: Cultural competence describes an adaptability in cognitive, affective and behavioral domains, and reflects a movement from ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism. A simulation was designed to assist students to develop cultural competence, and to move beyond developing knowledge about specific cultural values, behavioral patterns, and rules for interaction in different cultural contexts.
Methods: Cultural competency was operationalized by use of a 20-item instrument originally used in training and development of personnel. Self-reported data were collected both before and after a cultural simulation exercise. In addition, qualitative data were collected during focus group discussions following completion of the simulation.
Findings: Significant differences between pre and post data were seen in 5 items of the survey (p <.05). Additional findings from the qualitative phase of the project also will be presented.
Conclusions: A cultural simulation may be useful in stimulating a conceptual shift from ethnocentrism (an absolutist perspective of culture) to ethnorelativism (a perspective that acknowledges variability in cognitive, affective and behavioral domains).
Implications: Educational programs in a safe environment that simulate cultural diversity are useful in preparing nursing students for the current global healthcare environment. Skilled facilitation and debriefing strategies are important components of the process.
Back to Promoting Students' Success
Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003