The Relationships Among Personality, Intercultural Communication, and Cultural Self-Efficacy in Nursing Students

Background: The demand for nurses to provide transcultural nursing care is rising. However, little is known about the relationships among the dimensions of nurse personality, intercultural communication, and cultural self-efficacy in the provision of this care. Purpose: The aims of this study were to examine the associations among personality, intercultural communication, and cultural self-efficacy in nursing students and to compare intercultural communication and cultural self-efficacy between first-year and third-year nursing students. Method: One hundred twenty-six Chinese students completed a questionnaire that consisted of three scales that were designed to measure intercultural communication, cultural self-efficacy (cultural concepts, transcultural nursing functions, and cultural knowledge related to South Asians), and personality, respectively. Results: Intercultural communication correlated positively with the three subscales of personality, agreeableness (r =.22, p <.05), openness (r =.20, p <.05), and conscientiousness (r =.18, p <.05). Self-efficacy in cultural concepts correlated positively with agreeableness (r =.18, p G.05) and intercultural communication (r =.49, p <.01). Self-efficacy in transcultural nursing functions correlated positively with intercultural communication (r =.36, p <.01), agreeableness (r =.31, p <.01), emotional stability (r =.25, p <.01), openness (r =.32, p <.01), extraversion (r =.19, p <.05), and conscientiousness (r =.20, p <.05). Self-efficacy in cultural knowledge related to South Asians correlated positively with agreeableness (r =.20, p <.05) and intercultural communication (r =.27, p <.01). No significant difference was found between first-year and third-year students in terms of intercultural communication, self-efficacy in knowledge of cultural concepts, self-efficacy in the skills needed to perform key transcultural nursing functions, or self-efficacy in the cultural knowledge related to South Asians. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Personality assessments should be included in the nursing student recruitment process. Furthermore, nurse educators should focus greater attention on enhancing the cultural self-efficacy and intercultural communication skills of their students.