Understanding the cultural competence of nurses in tertiary care settings within the western province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background:
In Saudi Arabia, foreign nurses make up two-thirds of the total nursing workforce and this has resulted in a culturally and educationally diverse workplace. Cultural diversity is further increased, as around one third of the wider population are also expatriates.

Study Purpose: The study identifies and addresses the current cultural competence level of registered nurses at tertiary care settings within the western province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It explores registered nurses’ experience of delivering culturally competent nursing care.

Study design: The research used a descriptive cross sectional design which incorporated both quantitative and qualitative components using a survey, open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews.

Method: Nurses were selected for the survey using a cluster stratified random sampling technique in each of five hospitals. In the qualitative part, a purposeful sampling technique was used. Thematic Content Analysis was used for the qualitative interviews and open ended questions in the survey.

Results: A total of 427 nurses completed the questionnaires; 16 of these were also interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Analysis showed that the nurses scored a total of 87. The mean was 3.5 (SD=0.5) and the mean self-reported competence was 4 (SD=0.75). The participants scores on the CAS subscale indicated moderate levels of perceived cultural awareness and sensitivity (M=3.8; SD=0.4). The mean CCB subscale score of culturally competent behaviours performance was 3.0 (SD=0.8). The qualitative findings indicated that the participants can achieve cultural competence through language facilitation, cultural awareness, culture sensitivity, culture diversity and organisational support.

Conclusion: This study has demonstrated significant outcomes and new knowledge in the area of cultural competence. It has provided knowledge at a baseline level of cultural competence. It also makes a contribution to the theoretical development in the field of transcultural nursing and more specifically to cultural competence.

Date of Award	Jun 2015
Original language	English
Supervisor	George Kernohan (Supervisor) & Carol Curran (Supervisor)