Abstract:
Cultural competence comprises understanding the values, beliefs, traditions, and
customs of diverse groups. Nurses working with a culturally diverse population are fronting
challenges principally due to the coexistence of multicultural and multiethnic societies.
Objective: To assess cultural competency nursing care and its associated factors among
nurses working in Amhara Regional State Referral Hospitals, Ethiopia, 2021.
Methods: Institution-based mixed method study design was conducted at selected referral
hospitals in Amhara Regional state Ethiopia from April 1 to May 30, 2021. A simple random
sampling technique was used to select 543 participants for quantitative and purposive
sampling for qualitative study. Data were collected using a self-administered Nurse
Cultural Competence Scale Questionnaire, and semi-structured questions for in-depth interviews. Data were entered into Epi data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 analysis.
Descriptive statistics independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance with multiple linear
regression analysis were used for data analysis. Qualitative data were analyzed using
thematic analysis using open code software.
Results: A total of 543 participants were involved in this study making a response rate of
95.02% and seven participants for qualitative until data saturation was involved. More than
half (54.5%) were female. The overall cultural competence nursing care of mean score was
3.39 (0.61) out of a total possible score ranging from 1 to 5 which indicates a moderate level
of cultural competency. The language barriers, lack of organizational support, cultural
difference, and health care provider-related factors were the main identified themes in
qualitative results.
Conclusion and Recommendation: The overall cultural competence was at a moderate
level, among four subscales cultural sensitivity was the highest. The language barrier and
lack of training were the major barriers to culturally competent nursing care.
Keywords: culture, cultural competence, nursing care, cultural diversity, Ethiop
