ABSTRACT
Introduction: Through constant population mobility, the cultural diversity among countries all over the world keeps increasing, thus intensifying the need to prepare nurses capable of providing culturally competent care. The cultural competence of nurses is an essential and necessary component in providing qualitative individualized nursing care and promoting equitable access to health care.
Purpose: The mapping of the available research referring to the effect of undergraduate nursing curricula on cultural competence of nursing students through a scoping review.
Methodology: A systematic literature search of scientific studies in electronic databases of Pubmed, Scopus and Science Direct was conducted without restriction as to the year and language of publication using the following key words: transcultural nursing, cultural competence, intercultural readiness, undergraduate students, course and curriculum. The inclusion criteria of the studies in this scoping review were a) studies investigating outcomes related to cultural competence b) students undertaking an undergraduate nursing curriculum c) primary studies. The material of this study consisted of 20 primary research studies.
Results: The majority of primary studies, which investigated outcomes of cultural competence in undergraduate nursing students are cross – sectional studies from the USA (35%) and have been published during the last decade (75%). The cultural competence of nursing students seems to vary and was found to range from moderate to good levels. Factors found to be associated with cultural competence of bachelor nursing students include demographic characteristics, attending relevant education, year of study, experience of caring for patients from different cultural backgrounds and from special population groups, and the cultural background of the students themselves.
Conclusions: Providing knowledge and skills of transcultural nursing and opportunities of interacting with different cultures in the context of undergraduate curricula is essential for nursing students to successfully manage the ever- increasing cultural challenges and provide culturally competent individualized nursing care to patients. With regard to existing undergraduate nursing curricula, periodic assessment of their adequacy in providing knowledge and skills in intercultural nursing is considered of paramount importance.
Key words: Knowledge, skills, cultural competence, undergraduate nursing students, attitudes
