Nurses' Cultural Competence: A Meta-analysis
Abstract
Cultural competence in nursing is essential in providing care that is centered around the unique, individual needs of patients from different cultures. This study used a meta-analysis research method to determine the different predictors of registered nurses’ cultural competence and their effect on cultural competence. Articles from 2010-2020 were collected on June 14-16, 2020 from research databases EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Google Scholar using the following search terms: nurse cultural competence, nurses cultural competency, nurse transcultural competence, nurse’ transcultural competency, nurse transcultural care, and nurse cultural care. From an initial of 170 studies, six studies qualified for inclusion in the meta-analysis based on the study criteria. From the six studies, 19 significant predictors of registered nurses’ cultural competence were identified, such as cultural skill, cultural desire, cultural encounter, cultural knowledge, attitude, cultural awareness, diversity training, empowerment, length of service, empathy, marital status, the experience of cultural education, work experience, experience caring for diverse patients, age, working in a specialty area, work shift, responsibility, and confidence level. Using the Hunter-Schmidt method, a significantly small correlation effect size (r =0.241) was found. There was no publication bias as revealed in the Rosenthal Fail-Safe N value of 3222. The results supported and confirmed Leininger’s Culture Care theory. It affirmed that the competence of nurses in caring for clients with different cultures is needed and important to provide culture-specific nursing care.
Keywords: nurse, cultural competence, meta-analysis