Investigation of Cultural Competence in Greek Nursi ng Students

Introduction: Intercultural knowledge and cultural skills refer to the acquisition and formation of cultural awareness through education, so that nursing studen ts are more adequately prepared to meet a diverse c lientele. Aim: This study aimed at investigating the level of cul tural awareness of nursing students. Method: The sample consisted of 120 nursing of secondand thir -year students. This is a synchronous correlation study and data were collected via face to face interviews using the Clinical Culture Compe tence Questionnaire for the exploration of their cultural c pacity. The statistical package SPSS 23.0 was us ed for data analysis, applying the methods of Descriptive and I nductive Statistics. Results: Gender differences were evident with male students displaying higher scores than women (p=0.001). The educational level is also statistically related o Knowledge (p=0.018) and Skills (p=0.023). A sig nificant positive correlation arises between the range of kn wledge and skills which suggests that increasing t he level of knowledge of students entails an increase in their skills and vice versa (p=0.000). Discussion: Our study has shown that gender affects students' l vel of knowledge on intercultural care as male students displayed higher scores than females (p=0. 001). This finding contrasts with the results of ot her studies where the level of cultural competence in nursing s tudents has shown that while older students (>30 ye ars) knew more about the appropriate cultural management of p atients, females were more sensitive and capable of managing intercultural concepts than male students. The results of this study also showed that social interactions with people of different cultural backgrounds were found to be related to greater knowledge and skill capabilities. Conclusions: From this research it is clear that, in order to improve the cultural knowledge and skills of students, nursing education should provide appropri ate scientific continuing education as well as oppo rtunities for students to interact with different cultures.