The status of cultural care among nurses working in different wards of teaching hospitals in Ardabil, Iran: A cross-sectional survey study

Introduction Culture is an important determinant in providing appropriate and coordinated health care for people from different ethnicities. The present study aimed to evaluate the status of cultural care among nurses working in teaching hospitals affiliated to Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. Methods In this descriptive-correlational study, 350 nurses completed the Persian version of Cultural Care Inventory (PCCI). This tool consists of 51 items and measures cultural care process in four domains including cultural preparation, cultural attitude, cultural awareness and cultural competence. Data were analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22. Results The grand item mean of cultural care was 2.60 +/- 0.621, which is considered poor. The grand item mean was 2.64 +/- 0.78 in the subscale of cultural preparation, 3.45 +/- 0.559 in cultural attitude, 2.81 +/- 0.736 in cultural awareness and 2.58 +/- 0.834 in cultural competence. Cultural competence was significantly related to cultural preparation (r = 0.80), cultural attitude (r = 0.62) and cultural awareness (r = 0.87). Discussion Based on the present findings, cultural care and its dimensions (with the exception of cultural attitude) were at a poor level. It can also be claimed that there is a direct and strong relationship between the dimensions of cultural care including cultural preparation, awareness, attitude and competence, which indicates the interdependence of these dimensions on each other. Nurses need to improve their cultural competence to ensure of providing patient-centered and culturally coordinated care.