Transcultural nursing in Australian nursing curricula

Jaya Pinikahana, Elizabeth Manias, Brenda Happell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As a result of the fact that Australia is a multicultural society with many people who come from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB), the objective of the present study was to discuss the extent to which transcultural nursing education is incorporated into undergraduate nursing curricula. A survey was undertaken to determine the availability of nursing modules for undergraduate nursing students through Australian university websites on 'transcultural nursing' or related modules. Although the inclusion of these modules into nursing education provide an opportunity for nurses to perceive and respond to different patient behaviors in multicultural societies, it is not sufficient to understand the complexity of the health care needs of a multicultural society. The survey findings suggest that many universities have not included transcultural nursing modules in their nursing curricula. To address this problem, more transcultural nursing modules need to be introduced into nursing curricula and nursing academics need to refine their attitudes about the importance of cultural aspects of patient care within nursing education.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-154
Number of pages6
JournalNursing and Health Sciences
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2003
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Australia
  • Non-English speaking background clients
  • Nursing education
  • Transcultural

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