The effectiveness of cultural competence education in enhancing knowledge acquisition, performance, attitudes, and student satisfaction among undergraduate health science students: a scoping review

Abstract

Purpose: Cultural competence in healthcare assists in the delivery of culturally sensitive and high-quality services. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the available evidence and to examine the effectiveness of classroom-based intervention strategies used to enhance the cultural competence of undergraduate health science students.Methods: A comprehensive and systematic literature search was undertaken in databases, including Cochrane Library, Medline, and Emcare. Articles were eligible if they employed an experimental study design to assess classroom-based cultural competency education for university students across the health science disciplines. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted relevant data pertaining to study and participant characteristics using a charting table. The outcomes included knowledge, attitudes, skills, and perceived benefits.Results: Ten studies were analysed. Diverse approaches to cultural education exist in terms of the mode, frequency, and duration of interventions. For the knowledge outcome, students who experienced cultural education interventions yielded higher post-test scores than their baseline cultural knowledge, but without a significant difference from the scores of students who did not receive interventions. Data relating to the skills domain demonstrated positive effects for students after experiencing interventions. Overall, students were satisfied with their experiences and demonstrated improvements in confidence and attitudes towards culturally competent practice.Conclusion: Across health science disciplines, cultural competency interventions were shown to be effective in enhancing knowledge acquisition, performance of skills, attitudes, and student satisfaction. Future research is necessary to address the significant absence of control arms in the current literature, and to assess long-term effects and patient-related outcomes.

Improving Cultural Competence and Self-Efficacy Among Postgraduate Nursing Students: Results of an Online Cultural Care Training Program

“…In the first section, the findings indicated that the training program significantly improved cultural competence of the nursing students in the intervention group compared with the control group. Consistent with the results of this study, several studies showed that educational interventions promoted cultural competence among participants (Arruzza & Chau, 2021; Bauer & Bai, 2018; Fair et al, 2021; Lin & Hsu, 2020). In a systematic review, researchers reported that cultural competence training increased the cultural competence of the health care providers.…”

Using a model to design, implement, and evaluate a training program for improving cultural competence among undergraduate nursing students: a mixed methods study

“…Although these training programs can help increase cultural competence, they are insufficient for long-term motivation, attitudes, and behavior change after graduation. Nurse educators and students should pay special attention to cultural competence as a lifetime process, and participation in training programs is required even after years of working in the clinical settings [ 44 ]. Above-mentioned studies may be consistent with the present study because of new and diverse educational content and duration of training.…”

Diversity training for health professionals: Preparedness to competently address intellectual disability in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

“…Through these identities they had differential access to theory and praxis that in turn informed the extent to which they were prepared to engage with issues of diversity per se and intellectual disabilities in particular. Therefore, the development of multi-modal curriculum and co-curricular activities must be leveraged to promote the development of multicultural and diversity competence (Arruzza and Chau, 2021). The discourse on the multidisciplinary team underscored diversity and introduced more intersecting dimensions whereas the discourse on the target group of patients with intellectual disabilities remained undifferentiated (Murray-Garca et al, 2005, 2014).…”