Background: Multicultural organizations in the era of globalization require intercultural leadership skills. Healthcare, as a sector serving diverse populations, necessitates culturally sensitive staff. Intercultural nurse education should start in undergraduate education. A tailored approach is needed, especially in the context of Poland's refugee crisis.
Objective: To investigate how a multicultural personality profile and specific intercultural perspectives affect the attitudes of nursing students towards Ukrainian refugee background healthcare professionals.
Design: A nationwide cross-sectional multicentre online survey study was conducted. The questionnaire was distributed with the aid of the Lime Survey web platform.
Methods: The study utilized a Polish version of the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire. The questionnaire also included demographics and questions assessing intercultural competence and attitudes towards refugee medical professionals. K-Means Cluster Analysis was used to classify different patterns of multicultural personality. P-value <0.05 was deemed to be statistically significant.
Participants: The study sample consisted of 1325 undergraduate nursing students from 39 nursing schools in Poland: 54.0% in first year, 28.7% in second year, and 17.3% in third year. Most respondents were female (N = 1229, 90%).
Results: Using cluster analysis respondents were categorized into four groups based on their level of three analyzed multicultural personality traits: cultural empathy, social initiative, and open-mindedness (high, low, average or mixed level). Statistical analysis demonstrated that personality profiles significantly affected nursing students' attitudes towards refugee health professionals (p = 0.003). Additionally, students' willingness to engage in intercultural communication classes and their belief in the learnability of intercultural competence also impacted their attitudes (p < 0.001 for both). Further analysis revealed correlations between personality profiles, belief in competency acquisition, and willingness to enhance competencies.
Conclusion: The design of intercultural competence education for undergraduate nursing students should be preceded by a mapping of the students' personality profile and a needs analysis in this regard, which may contribute to long-term effectiveness of such initiatives.
Keywords: Cultural empathy; Intercultural competence; Multicultural personality; Nursing students; Open-mindedness; Social initiative; Ukrainian refugee health care professionals.
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