Predictors of Intercultural Sensitivity in U. S. Nursing Students Along the Gulf Coast

Abstract

The United States has seen a dramatic increase in its levels of diversity over the last half century. This diversity is apparent in all aspects of the nation including the healthcare system thereby necessitating healthcare education institutions to produce more culturally competent healthcare providers. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate predictors of intercultural communication sensitivity (ICS) in U.S. nursing students in the Gulf Coast area. The study investigates the relationship between predictors of ICS such as student’s background setting in terms of rural vs. urban, gender, prior exposure to cultural experiences, and their intended work settings in terms of rural or urban. A questionnaire composed of an existing ICS scale and researcher developed measures was completed by 121 ADN and BSN nursing students from five nursing schools in the region. The results of the study show that a nursing student’s background setting, prior cultural immersion, as well as intended work setting had varying predictive effects on total ICS scores. This study also tested a literature based measure for assessing prior cultural exposure. This measure contained three dimensions, immersion experiences, narrative experience, and language study which were tested for consistency and validity. The immersion experience dimension performed well for properly assessing this aspect of prior cultural exposure as well as predicting higher ICS scores. This study tested the integrity of an existing ICS scale finding this scale to reduce to three dimensions instead of the published five dimensions. The predictors of this study were also regressed on these new ICS dimensions as a post-study investigation into the relationship between these variables. The results were consistent with the main study hypotheses.

The United States has seen a dramatic increase in its levels of diversity over the last half century. This diversity is apparent in all aspects of the nation including the healthcare system thereby necessitating healthcare education institutions to produce more culturally competent healthcare providers. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate predictors of intercultural communication sensitivity (ICS) in U.S. nursing students in the Gulf Coast area. The study investigates the relationship between predictors of ICS such as student’s background setting in terms of rural vs. urban, gender, prior exposure to cultural experiences, and their intended work settings in terms of rural or urban. A questionnaire composed of an existing ICS scale and researcher developed measures was completed by 121 ADN and BSN nursing students from five nursing schools in the region. The results of the study show that a nursing student’s background setting, prior cultural immersion, as well as intended work setting had varying predictive effects on total ICS scores. This study also tested a literature based measure for assessing prior cultural exposure. This measure contained three dimensions, immersion experiences, narrative experience, and language study which were tested for consistency and validity. The immersion experience dimension performed well for properly assessing this aspect of prior cultural exposure as well as predicting higher ICS scores. This study tested the integrity of an existing ICS scale finding this scale to reduce to three dimensions instead of the published five dimensions. The predictors of this study were also regressed on these new ICS dimensions as a post-study investigation into the relationship between these variables. The results were consistent with the main study hypotheses.