Factors Affecting Cultural Competence of Nursing Students

This study was conducted to identify the level of cultural empathy, self-esteem, and cultural competence and factors affecting cultural competence of nursing students. Participants were 157 nursing students who were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade in one university located at the Chungbuk provinces. Data collected using questionnaires which consisted of general characteristics, cultural empathy, self-esteem, and cultural competence. The mean score for cultural empathy was $3.63{\pm}.34$(scores ranged from 1 to 5), The mean score for self-esteem was $2.91{\pm}.42$(scores ranged from 1 to 4). The mean score for cultural competence was $3.31{\pm}.43$(scores ranged from 1 to 5). There were significant differences between cultural competence and age(t=-2.242, p=.027), grade(F=3.473, p=.033), and fluency of foreign language(F=5.053, p=.007). There were significant correlation between cultural competence and cultural empathy(r=.49, p<.001), and self-esteem(r=.33, p<.001)), and self-esteem and cultural empathy(r=.33, p<.001). Cultural empathy and self-esteem explained 29.4% of cultural competence and major predictor variable for cultural competence was cultural empathy. In this paper, we propose various multicultural education programs in curriculum and extra curriculum that can enhance cultural empathy and self-esteem to improve cultural competence of nursing students. Especially, continuous education of cultural knowledge among cultural competence will be done.