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Abstract
Aims: This study sought to assess the knowledge, skills, attitudes and practice of nurses towards the issue of culture, in order to assess their level of cultural competence (CC) and its impact upon healthcare provision within the speciality of elderly care.
Background: The UK continues to be an increasingly diverse and ageing population; hence, it is important that healthcare professionals become aware of the needs of older ethnic minority patients. CC is one approach which has been suggested as a strategy to improve quality of healthcare and reduce inequality for all patients.
Methods: This study adopted a quantitative research design as a cross-sectional survey using the Cultural Competence Assessment Tool (CCATool), which surveyed registered and non-registered nurses working within elderly care. Participants were assigned a category of CC based on the scores they achieved in the survey. Statistical tests were used to explore trend within the data based on participants’ demographic characteristics.
Results: It was observed that no nurses were cultural incompetent, or fully CC; 65 nurses were found to be culturally aware, whilst 13 were culturally safe. Three statistically-significant results were found which related to statements assessing participants’ cultural sensitivity. The fact that so few significant results were found emerged as the key finding of this study.
Discussion: CC measurement tools are most frequently used to compare changes in individuals’ CC following, for example, changes in organisational policy or attendance at training programmes. This study demonstrated that scoring the absolute CC of individuals’ may not be that clinically useful. Interpreting the finding also revealed the limitations of most CC frameworks in offering practicing nurses clear guidance on what actions can be taken to achieve CC nursing care. In order to address these shortfalls, a new framework for CC in nursing practice was developed.
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