Cultural competence assessment among health care workers

Abstract

Introduction: Poland as a country located in the middle of Europe attracts the foreigners. People, that come to Poland and settle the area of our country hope that the life will be better and statelier, although the compatriot have not always the positive attitude to the foreigners. One of the biggest problems ist the lack of knowlage about cultural differences, what can lead to unnecessary conflicts. Cultural competences, understood as the ability to adopt an attitude of cultural relativism, constitute a set of attitudes, knowledge and motivations, among which ethnocultural empathy and a sense of self-efficacy play an important role and a cognitive flexibility and openness to new experiences is. Aim of this thesis: To put on the test the intercultural competence of the health system workers. Materials and methods: The questionnaire includes 200 health system workers, that works in hospitals on the area of Lubuskie and Zachodniopomorskie province. For the realization was used the standar questionnaire for the assessment of cultural competence – Cross-Cultural Competence Inventory. The questionnaire includes 149 questions, which are shared in 9 areas: Ethnocultural Empathy, Self-Efficacy, Willingness to Engage, Openness to New Experience, Emotional Self-Regulation, Self-Monitoring, Tolerance for Ambiguity, Low Need for Cognitive Closure, Cognitive Flexibility. Based on the collected data, a collective statistical analysis was carried out. Results: The respondents differed from each other in particular areas. It was found that the level of cultural competences of healthcare professionals leaves much to be desired. The research shows that the youngest respondents aged 21 to 25 were the most open to new experiences, while the respondents aged 36 to 45 were the least open to new experiences. Women have a higher level of “ethnocultural empathy” than men. The employees of medical institutions subject to the study showed a high level of “self-efficacy”. Nurses participating in the study showed statistically higher “openness to new experiences” than other subgroups of the respondents. Nurses have a high cognitive flexibility, which means they have the ability to be open-minded and flexible when making decisions. It has been shown that the respondents are more open to new experiences. Women are characterized by greater cognitive flexibility. Self-efficacy was highest in people with higher education. [The manuscript will present individual components included in the studied areas.] Conclusions: The general level of cultural competence among healthcare professionals can be described as quite satisfactory. The gender and job position of the surveyed healthcare workers have an impact on the level of personal cultural competences. Women and nurses were characterized by greater cognitive flexibility and openness to new experiences. Relatively high self-efficacy, strengthened by education, can be a strong basis for building potential in other areas, including ethno-cultural empathy.