Social relations between students from two groups in conflict: Differences in stereotypes and perceived social distance between Jewish and Arab nursing students

Attitudes of polish nurses towards representatives of certain religions

Background

The verification of attitudes of nurses towards people of different religions is essential when it comes to anticipating opportunities for cooperation in the field of provision of healthcare. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the attitudes of Polish nurses, on the example of nurses living in the Lesser Poland region (southern Poland) towards representatives of certain religions.

Methods

The study was cross-sectional and was carried out using both the diagnostic survey and method of estimation. The selection of the study group was purposeful. The research tools used in the study include the Bogardus’ Social Distance Scale adapted by Jasińska-Kania and Staszyńska; Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) by Sidanius and Pratto; Social Approbation Questionnaire by Drwal and Wilczyńska and Author’s questionnaire. A significance level of 0.05 was assumed in the analyzes. The research was carried among 1271 professionally active nurses.

Results

The respondents showed the least significant social distance towards the Orthodox and Protestants and the most significant towards the Muslims. There was a considerable dependence when it comes to the level of the social distance of the respondents shown on sociodemographic variables and frequency of contact with Others, provision of healthcare to people of different religions, and training on transcultural nursing. The relationship between SDO and the modified Bogardus Scale has been shown. All subscales of the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) correlated significantly and negatively with the Bogardus scale.

Conclusions

The study outcomes show that there is a need to train nurses on transcultural nursing.

Cultural intelligence and social distance among undergraduate students in clinical professions

Cultural competence, also known as cultural intelligence (CQ), is considered a necessary skill in the clinical professions and for resolving intergroup conflict, yet it has not been examined within the framework of the contact hypothesis. The aim of the present research is to extend CQ theory from management to the clinical professions and examine it in a context of intergroup conflict. The present study examined CQ and social distance among entering undergraduate majority (Jewish) and minority (Arab) students in clinical study domains, hypothesizing that CQ will be negatively associated with social distance towards outgroup members and that minority students will report higher CQ than majority students. First-year students ( N = 180) from diverse demographic and study domains (social work, nursing, behavioral sciences) were surveyed. The results reveal a novel negative association between CQ and outgroup social distance, and higher CQ among minority-group students. The finding that students from minority backgrounds were more receptive to intercultural exchange at the outset of their training suggests that CQ theory could be used in training and evaluation criteria of students entering clinical professional training.