Assessing culturally competent scholarship.

Cultural competence is a necessity for nursing practice in a global society, and use of objective criteria to measure cultural competence is a critical need. We used Meleis's eight criteria for assessing culturally competent scholarship as an analytical framework for reviewing an international educational/research experience. We developed operational measures for each criterion, then applied the measures to our experience, citing discrete examples for adherence. While we believe we have met the criteria for cultural competence in our course and scholarly work, our application has helped to identify areas needing improvement. In addition, we hope our application of these criteria will stimulate others to evaluate their own efforts in teaching, researching, or practicing cultural competence.

Health professional students' occupational exposures to blood-borne pathogens: primary and secondary prevention strategies.

Health science students, along with the health professionals they hope to become, are at increased risk for certain occupational injuries and illnesses. One of these risks is occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis, which may result in severe illnesses or even death. Two case studies demonstrate postexposure care of exposed individuals at the University of Texas Medical Branch Student Health Services before and after policy changes and prevention strategies were strengthened in response to exposure incidents.

Women's self-perception and self-care practice: implications for health care delivery.

Mexican American women experience unique health care needs related to integration of Mexican and American cultures. To learn how to better promote self-care practices and service utilization in women of Mexican origin living in Texas, researchers used a qualitative approach to interview a convenience sample of 11 low-income women attending a health clinic. Researchers collected narrative data about the women's perceptions of health, wellness, and self-care. Using the matrix approach described by Miles and Huberman, we organized findings around women's roles, including participants' descriptions of themselves, their health and wellness awareness, self-care practices for health/illness and wellness/nonwellness, barriers to self-care, origin of self-care practices, and perceptions of life control. Implications for health planning and service delivery are presented.