Thai Nurses’ Cultural Competency in Caring for Clients Living in a Multicultural Setting
Keywords:
cultural competency, Cultural skill and Knowledge, Multicultural; Nursing, ThailandAbstract
The three southernmost provinces of Thailand are recognized as areas with a variety of cultural contexts. It is therefore essential for nurses to have cultural competency to respond to different health care needs. The purpose of this descriptive research was to assess the level of Thai nurses’ cultural competency in caring for clients living in a multicultural setting. A self-report questionnaire on cultural competency was administered to 126 registered nurses working around the southern Thai-Malaysian border region, who were recruited from provincial hospitals, community hospitals and local health centers. The questionnaire was composed of five dimensions: cultural knowledge,cultural awareness, cultural skills, cultural encounters and cultural desire. The cultural knowledge dimension was tested for internal consistency using Kruder-Richardson (KR-20), yielding a value of 0.72. The other 4 dimensions were tested using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, yielding a total value of 0.84. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.
The results revealed that the nurses’ overall cultural competency was at a moderate level. Cultural awareness, cultural encounters and cultural desire were at a high level, but cultural knowledge and cultural skill were at a moderate level. No significant differences were found according to period of working, health-care setting or training experience about multicultural care, but differences were found across religion (p<.05). The findings highlight the importance of cultural competency development among Thai nurses aimed at reducing stress and conflicts, and promoting nurses’ adaptation when working in the multicultural settings of the Thai-Malaysian border region.
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