Enhancing cultural competence: Trans‐Atlantic experiences of European and Canadian nursing students

Abstract

This paper describes the enhancement of cultural competence through trans-Atlantic rural community experiences of European and Canadian nursing students using critical incident technique (CIT) as the students' reflective writing method. The data generated from 48 students' recordings about 134 critical incidents over a 2-year project were analysed by qualitative content analysis. Five main learning categories were identified as: cross-cultural ethical issues; cultural and social differences; health-care inequalities; population health concerns; and personal and professional awareness. Four emergent cultural perspectives for the health sector that became apparent from the reflections were: health promotion realm; sensitivity to social and cultural aspects of people's lives; channels between the health sector and society; cultural language and stories of local people. CIT was successfully used to foster European and Canadian undergraduate students' cultural reflections resulting in considerations and suggestions for future endeavours to enhance cultural competence in nursing education.

A virtual caravan—A metaphor for home-internationalization through social media: A qualitative content analysis

“…Cultural competence is considered to be a continuous process of personal maturation. This process is characterized by an increase in self-awareness and in the ability to see from the other's perspective, thereby improving a person's ability to identify conflicting values and expectations during interactions, and raising one's willingness to identify mutually acceptable solutions and to behave in a culturally flexible manner (Koskinen et al, 2009).…”

Outcomes of an International Cooperative Education Experience for Undergraduate Nursing Students

“…2 All alumni we interviewed reported personal and professional outcomes comparable with those reported by others. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][14][15][16][17][18] Nine of our participants, however, completed the international co-op experience 27 to 35 years before being interviewed, and all of them described the sustained influence of the experience on their personal and professional lives. Although this is a small number of participants, the time interval between the international experience and research interview was substantially longer than the intervals reported in other studies, the longest of which was 15 years.…”

“…An international experience, particularly in low-resource (developing) countries, has been shown to increase self-reported outcomes such as self-confidence, 1-3 maturation, [3][4][5][6][7] ability to cope with risks and hardships, 2,7-9 insight into one's own culture through comparisons with the host culture, 7,10,11 and heightened appreciation for the economic prosperity in one's home country. 6,8,12 One study of international co-op for science and technology majors also showed that the co-op experience increased students' selfconfidence, language skills, and cultural understanding.…”

“…13 Research about the impact of study abroad on professional development has shown that nursing students' self-reported cultural sensitivity, engagement, and competence increases as a result of international clinical experiences. [1][2][3]7,8,[14][15][16] Students become more aware of the importance of professional values and ethical standards, 4,8,11,17 gain a better understanding of how politics and socioeconomic factors affect health care, 1,[4][5][6]9,17,18 and develop an appreciation for the universal aspects of nursing even when nursing functions and settings differ. 1,5,11 For some, the experience helps clarify career goals.…”

Cross-cultural Experiences during a Visiting Scholar Program: “…A Start[ing] not a Finishing Point”

“…Culture is a characteristic of a population and guides individuals worldviews and decision making (Purnell & Paulanka, 1998). Cultural competence is generally understood as a developmental process of personal maturation, whereby the learner moves from lower to higher levels of intercultural awareness that includes self-awareness and the capacity to act in culturally diverse contexts (Koskinen et al, 2009;Koskinen & Tossavainen, 2004).…”