Competency and Perspectives of Nursing Students on Cross-cultural Mental Health Care
Authors: Üzar Özçetin, Y.S., Trenoweth, S. and Tee, S.
Conference: 7th International Nursing Management Conference
Dates: 26-28 October 2018
Abstract:Objective: This project aims to identify the level of cross cultural competency of student nurses, and the challenges arising from mental health and students' internalised cultural perceptions. Materials-Methods: A quantitative research design was conducted with a cross-sectional survey using the Nurse Cultural Competency Scale.The participants of this study were selected through convenience sampling from nursing students attending seven universities in Ankara, Turkey. All nursing schools had very similar characteristics regarding their education system and courses. Results: Of the participants, 87.3% were aged 18-24 (23.07±2.09) years; 85.9% were female; 96.8% were single; 76.6% did not receive training in cross cultural mental health care; nearly all (93.1%) cared for service users from different cultures; 57.4% experienced difficulties while caring for service users from different cultures; 83.2% thought that nurses need training to care for service users from different cultures; 63.4% had heard about cross-cultural nursing before; 78.0% found it easier to care for service users from her/his own culture; more than half (51.1%) found it difficult to provide care for service users from different cultures and 51.9% did not feel competent to care for service users from different cultures; 57.4% believed that service users from different cultures were stigmatised. t-test, revealed significant differences between cultural competency scores and some sociodemographics (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The students had moderate levels of cultural competency, cultural sensitivity, cultural knowledge and cultural skill scores.
These findings suggest that nursing students need to be supported more in promoting culturally competent mental health care. We suggest that undergraduate nursing education should be re-structured to promote cultural competency levels of students, within the current curriculum.
Source: Manual