The Effects of an Integrated Instructional Program Using the Hot Salt Pot Method for Treatment of Postpartum Mothers on Nursing Students’ Cultural Awareness

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study intended to compare the cultural awareness of nursing students before and after integrating the hot salt pot method for the treatment of postpartum mothers into a nursing instructional program, and to compare the cultural awareness between nursing students who had received and not received  this integrated instruction. The sample group consisted of 126 second-year Bachelor of Nursing Science students divided into two groups, consisting of an experimental group of 65 students and a control group of 61 students. The instruments used for data collection consisted of a general information form and a cultural awareness questionnaire related to the instructional program using the hot salt pot for the treatment of postpartum mothers. Content validity, verified by three experts, was between 0.78 and 0.82, respectively, and the reliability of the questionnaire, using Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.97. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including mean, percentage, and standard deviation. Paired t-test was used to compare pre- and post-instruction mean scores within the experimental group, and independent t-test was used to compare post-instruction mean scores between the experimental and control groups.

The results showed that nursing students in the experimental group had higher mean scores in cultural awareness after receiving the integrated instruction (Mean = 4.57, S.D. = 0.54)  than before receiving the instructional integration (Mean = 3.83, S.D. = 0.66)  at the .05 level of significance. It was also found that the experimental group had higher mean scores in cultural awareness (Mean= 4.57, S.D. = 0.54) than the control group, who had received the conventional training program (Mean= 4.37, S.D. = 0.86) at the .05 level of significance (t = 2.827).