The Factors Affecting Cultural Competency of Visiting Nurses and Community Health Practitioners

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of cultural competency of visiting nurses and community health practitioners and explore factors that are related with their cultural competency. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 113 visiting nurses and 103 community health practitioners working in Gangwon-do. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire on May 24, 2011. The SPSS/WIN 17.0 program was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The average score for cultural competency of visiting nurses was 2.76+/-0.60 and that of community health practitioners 2.91+/-0.51. Most of subjects received no multicultural education (78.0% for nurses, 85.7% for community health nurses). Factors influencing cultural competency were number of service experience for multicultural clients and participation of multicultural education. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to develop systematic educational programs to enhance the cultural competency of nurses.