Assessment of the cultural competence level of faculty and nursing students at a local midwestern university

The purpose of this study was to assess the cultural competence level of faculty, undergraduate and graduate nursing students at a Midwestern University. Campinha-Bacote's Model: The process of cultural competence in the delivery of health care services” (1997) guided this study. The target populations were current faculty and students. Using survey research methods, data were collected from a convenience sample of 32 faculty, 101 graduate students and 228 undergraduate students (N=361). Participants were recruited via mail and via classrooms. The “Inventory for assessing the process of cultural competence among healthcare professionals (IAPCC-R)” was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and included computation of descriptive statistics, item analysis, cultural competence scores, t-test and internal validity. Results revealed that there is a significant difference in students' and faculty cultural competence means (t = 2.42, p = .02). The established categories and ranges are as follows: culturally incompetent (25-50); culturally aware (51-74); culturally competent (75-90); and culturally proficient (91-100). Overall, faculty had higher cultural competence scores than students. Among faculty, Tenure-rack faculty had the highest cultural competence mean score (m = 76.91 (range 70 – 96). Tenured faculty had a mean score of 75.44 (range 57-87), and term faculty had a mean score of 68.40 (range 49-86). Among students, Level II had the lowest mean score of 66.58 (range 51 – 80), Level III had a mean score of 69.68 (range 57-92); Level IV had a mean score of 72.13 (range 56 –93), and graduate students had a mean score of 70.46 (range 51-90). Undergraduate students' cultural competence mean scores increased as they progressed in the nursing program with Level IV having a higher level. Students as well as tenure-track and tenured faculty scores ranged from being culturally aware to culturally proficient. Internal validity was confirmed using Guttman Split-half (.76) and Spearman-Brown (.76). The study suggests that the curriculum meets the educational needs of students; it is effective in preparing culturally competent graduates. Limitations of this study include use of a convenience sample.