Cultural competence in critical care nurses and its relationships with empathy, job conflict, and work engagement: a cross-sectional descriptive study

Abstract

Background Cultural competence is more important than ever for nurses today; therefore, it may be helpful to learn more about it and examine how it relates to empathy, job conflict, and work engagement. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the level of cultural competence, empathy, job conflict, and work engagement; (b) the relationship between cultural competence, demographic information, and main variables; (c) the predictors of cultural competence among critical care nurses. Methods A multicenter, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Iran from August to October 2022. Through convenience sampling, 153 critical care nurses from three hospitals participated. The research tool consisted of five parts: Demographic information questionnaire, Cultural Competence Questionnaire, Jefferson Scale Empathy, Dobrin Job Conflict, and Utrecht Work Engagement, which were collected by paper self-report. Descriptive statistics, the correlation between variables, and linear regression were used to analyze the data. Results Among critical care nurses (response rate 79.27%), the mean (SD) scores for cultural competence, empathy, job conflict, and work engagement were 74.05 (7.96), 83.44 (29.17), 11.00 (2.38), and 43.69 (16.33), respectively. There was a significant correlation between cultural competence and age (r = 0.46, p = 0.001), marital status (r = 0.27, p = 0.004), academic degree (r = 0.44, p = 0.001), work experiences (r = 0.43, p = 0.001), empathy (r = 0.50, p = 0.001), and job conflict (r=-0.16, p = 0.049). Academic degree (β = 0.36, p < 0.001) and empathy (β = 0.26, p < 0.001) were significant explanatory variables that predict cultural competence. Conclusion In Iranian critical care nurses, cultural competence and job conflict were moderate, empathy was good, and work engagement was poor. There was a significant relationship between cultural competence, age, marital status, academic degree, work experiences, empathy, and job conflict. Academic degree and empathy predict cultural competence.

Cultural challenges: Exploring nurses' experiences in clinical practice across two European countries

“…Factors such as excessive working hours, high workload, lack of practical experience, and frequent confrontations with fatal cases can impact the engagement of nurses in intensive care with cultural competence. Reducing the workload, providing specialised training, and regularly rotating healthcare personnel among hospital departments are essential strategies for improving cultural competence (Soleimani and Yarahmadi, 2023). The results of this study indicate that Slovak nurses with higher education perceive cultural challenges more significantly than nurses with lower education degrees (p < 0.000).…”

Ecological predictors of cultural competence among nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit: A cross‐sectional descriptive study

“…In particular, the "empathic feeling and expression" and "empathic perspective" were significantly more salient factors than the other two domains of ethnocultural empathy for NICU nurses. Ethnocultural empathy is a fundamental element of CC (Wang et al, 2003); previous studies have consistently reported that nurses or nursing students with a higher level of empathy had higher CC levels (Soleimani & Yarahmadi, 2023;Suk et al, 2018). A study by Hogan et al (2018) revealed increased cultural empathy among midwifery students in Australia after participating in a training program on cultural empathy, maintaining these levels a month after the program.…”

“…This study considered the concept of "ethnocultural empathy," which refers to empathy for groups of different cultures and races, as an individual factor (Wang et al, 2003). A significant positive relationship between empathy and CC among critical care nurses has been reported (Soleimani & Yarahmadi, 2023); moreover, the higher the cultural empathy level of nursing students, the higher their CC (Park & Kim, 2017). Personal experiences, including foreign language classes (Chae et al, 2012), multicultural education (Byun & Park, 2020), and cultural diversity training (Osmancevic et al, 2023), have also been shown to be associated with CC.…”

Enhancing Cultural Awareness : A Qualitative Exploration of Nurses' Perspectives on Application of Cultural Competence in Elder Care

“…It involves integrating conscious reflection and critically restructuring acquired knowledge and experiences (James et al, 2021). It is essential for nursing personnel to gain knowledge about aging and geriatric care, nurses who lack sufficient theoretical understanding and practical experience in this area may be hesitant to care for older adults after graduation (Söylemez et al, 2018;Baysal & Yildiz 2021;Soleimani & Yarahmadi, 2023).Thus, familiarity with aging, effective communication skills with older individuals, and maintaining high professional values promote positive attitudes towards working in geriatric care (Venables et al, 2023).…”