Abstract:
Background: Cultural diversity is a challenge that all healthcare workers face worldwide.
Cultural encounters should have been included in nursing curricula to improve nurses' cultural
competence in the face of this challenge.
Objectives: To analyze the level of cultural encounter of the first year (junior) and third year
students (senior), who were studied in the School of Nursing, Kurunegala & Vavuniya and to
identify how current nursing education is underpinned to improve cultural encounter of student
nurses.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in nursing schools in Kurunegala
and Vavuniya, Sri Lanka. According to the Rao Soft online calculator, 150 first-year students
and 150 third-year students from both schools were recruited using the technique of systematic
random sampling. A pre-tested, validated self-administered questionnaire was used to collect
data and data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0.
Results: The response rate was 100%. In both the senior and junior batches, the majority of the
sample (n=300) were females, Sinhalese, and Buddhists. The mean score of the cultural
encounter of senior student nurses was 3.92 (±0.28) and the mean score of the cultural
encounter of beginners was 3.63 (±0.44). The independent sample t-test results revealed that
there was no significant relationship between student nurses' learning years (senior or junior)
and cultural encounters (p=0.067).
Conclusions: Cultural encounters were at the moderate level of the first-year student nurses
along with senior student nurses and there was no significant relationship between the learning
year and the level of encounter. Since cultural encounters are a critical component of improving
healthcare workers' cultural competence, it is recommended that nursing curricula be evaluated
to identify available opportunities for cultural encounters for student nurses, and nursing
curricula be expanded to provide more opportunities for student nurses to engage in cultural
experiences.
