Understanding intercultural competence in intensive care medicine

Challenges for palliative care professionals in providing spiritual care to patients from religious or cultural minority groups: a scoping review of the literature

In light of the increasing number of people living into advanced age and the intensification of migration flows, care provision to multi-cultural and religious patient populations has become an important concern for many palliative care professionals. The current scoping review aims to explore the main barriers to spiritual care provision for minority groups and identify some strategies to overcome such obstacles. The review draws some general recommendations for researchers, policymakers and clinicians. First, more empirical research on different patient groups is needed; studies should target not only nurses, but also other healthcare providers, to ensure that practice adequately reflects the multidisciplinary nature of palliative care. Secondly, training and education should be offered in various forms and at different levels, as well as go beyond factual knowledge about the beliefs and practices of various religions.

The Polish version of the Cultural Intelligence Scale: Assessment of its reliability and validity among healthcare professionals and medical faculty students

BACKGROUND

Healthcare professionals and students of medical faculties in Poland increasingly encounter culturally diverse patients. It is necessary to support the development of cultural intelligence in order to improve the medical care provided to patients from different cultural backgrounds. At present there are no standardized tools in Poland that can accurately and reliably assess cultural intelligence, which is defined by Ang et al. as "an individual's capability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings". As argued in the present paper, this (cap)ability may be important for providing patient-centred care that is culturally adequate and competent.

PURPOSE

The aim of the research was to show the multistage process of validation of the Polish version of The Cultural Intelligence Scale by Ang et al. and Van Dyne et. al.

METHODS

Across two studies we examined the psychometric properties of the Cultural Intelligence Scale, including reliability (i.e. internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure) and validity (i.e. theoretical, criteria, convergent). In the first two-session study, 349 participants (98% were healthcare professionals, e.g. nurse, student nurse, medical student; mainly women, 89%) completed the Polish version of the Cultural Intelligence Scale twice with an interval of at least 22 days. In addition, across two study sessions participants completed questionnaires constructed to measure (a) cultural competence, (b) need for cognitive closure, (c) emphatic sensitiveness, (d) emotional intelligence, (e) self-esteem, (f) social desirability, (g) personality, and (h) positive/negative attitudes towards culturally divergent people. Finally, to additionally examine the theoretical validity, 36 professional cross-cultural competence trainers completed the Cultural Intelligence Scale during a one-session study.

RESULTS

The Cultural Intelligence Scale has been shown to have satisfactory psychometric properties. It has high reliability (Cronbach's alpha, respectively .94 and .95 in the first and second sessions) and the factor structure seems to approach the postulated one. Theoretical and criterion accuracy are well proven; convergence is less straightforward, but it correlates well with tools that examine variables such as cultural competence, cognitive closure, empathy/emphatic sensitiveness, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, personality, and social desirability. The results suggest that these factors contribute to the development of the cultural intelligence.

CONCLUSION

The Cultural Intelligence Scale can be successfully used in empirical research of cultural intelligence of medical professionals and students of medical majors and their education in Polish conditions.