Design and Evaluation of an Educational Course in Cultural Competence for Nursing

The Escola Superior d’Infermeria del Mar proposed to incorporate the skills acquisition of cultural competence in the curricula design of the new Nursing Degree; to get it, an optional course was created (Cultural Competence) within the 3rd quarter of 3rd year. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of training for the acquisition of Cultural Competence in nursing students. Is a quasi-experimental pretest-postest design with a single group in two consecutive courses (2011-12/2012-13). Data were collected through an ad-hoc 16 items Likert questionnaire at the beginning (pre-test) and the end of the course (post-test). A total of 43 students participated in the study. Statistically significant differences were observed in two items of the pretest results and no difference in post-test results. To confirm pretest and posttest hypothesis, results were compared after the educational intervention, finding significant differences in all survey items. The design of the course, in which knowledge and skills were worked, appears to be effective in acquiring cultural competence.