Nursing students' perceived attitudes toward addressing sexual health in their future profession: A longitudinal quantitative study.

BACKGROUND: Sexual health is a necessary component of human wellbeing. Nurses espouse holistic care but in practice often overlook a person's sexual health. Disparities linked to sexual health persist nationally and globally, including those among gender and sexual minorities. Inconsistent sexual health curriculum in nurse education in the United States has led to gaps in learning. This study aimed to understand nursing students' attitudes toward addressing sexual health issues in their future profession during an Associate of Science in Nursing program in the United States. METHODS: A convenience sample of Associate of Science in Nursing students from a university voluntarily participated in this longitudinal quantitative study. All eligible students enrolled in the first semester completed the Students' Attitudes Toward Addressing Sexual Health instrument. Summary statistics and Pearson r correlation were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The 159 students were relatively young, female, and White, non-Hispanic. The total score of students' attitudes toward addressing sexual health was 83.48, ranging from 41 to 109. Regarding the positively loaded items of the Students' Attitudes Toward Addressing Sexual Health, the results showed students believed they would have too much to do for handling sexual issues (M = 4.44), need to get basic knowledge about sexual health (M = 4.31), and take time to deal with patients' sexual issues (M = 4.24). CONCLUSION: In this study, nursing students reported positive attitudes toward addressing sexual health in their future profession but acknowledged they would need basic education. Due to the homogeneity of participants' backgrounds, the generalizability of study results might be limited. It is suggested that nurse educators should develop an innovative curriculum for building students' competence and prepare graduates to deliver sexual health care for meeting a person's health needs.

Factors Influencing the Development of Cultural Competence in Undergraduate Nursing Students.

BACKGROUND: The study purposes were to assess the cultural competence level and to identify factors that influence the development of cultural competence in undergraduate nursing students. METHOD: This quantitative study using a comparative and predictive design was conducted to recruit 106 undergraduate nursing students from a university by sending e-mails to all randomly selected Associate in Science in Nursing and RN-to-Bachelor of Science in Nursing students for participation. Each student participated voluntarily to self-administer a demographic survey and the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence among Healthcare Professionals-Student Version (IAPCC-SV©). RESULTS: The summated score of 20 questions of the IAPCC-SV among the participating students was 61.70, indicating a culturally competent level. Approximately 51% of the variation in the cultural competence level could be attributed to the predictor of cultural encounters. The second strongest predictor was the cultural knowledge. CONCLUSION: Further research should focus on identifying cost-effective teaching and learning strategies using the concept of cultural encounters and cultural knowledge to increase students' exposures to individuals from other cultures. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(1):40-43.].