Cultural competencies in Polish and Lithuanian nurses: A cross-sectional comparative study

Background Cultural competencies are known as a multidimensionalconstruct; however, they usually refer to an individual's sensitivity orcultural attitudes, cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Aim The aim of the study was to compare the cultural competences of nurses in Poland and Lithuania based on an adaptation of the Nurse Cultural Competence Scale (NCCS). Design The design was a comparative cross-sectional study. Methods A total of 383 Polish nurses and 184 Lithuanian nurses took part in the study. The questionnaires of the NCCS-Polish version (NCCS-v.PL) and the NCCS-Lithuanian version (NCCS-v.L) were used after linguistic adaptation and an evaluation of psychometric properties. Results As a result of the comparative analysis, a higher general level of cultural competences (based on the NCCS) was found in the Lithuanian group M-148.09 (SD = 22.85). The results show statistically significant differences among the respondents in the subscale of Nurse Cultural Competence Scale-Cultural Knowledge (NCCS-CK; p < 0.001); higher competences of the nurses were found in the Group LT (M = 31.05; SD = 6.75) than in the Group PL (M = 28.82; SD = 7.82). In the group of Polish nurses (Group PL), the intensity of cultural competences was found to increase along with age (NCCS-v.P r = 0.157, p < 0.05); this, however, was not observed in the Group LT (NCCS-v.LT, p > 0.05). Conclusions Both the nurses in Poland and in Lithuania are characterised by an average level of cultural competences. Diversity in the level of cultural competences was found in both groups depending on age, education and work experience.