Exploring the Impact of a 3D Simulation on Nursing Students’ Intention to Provide Culturally Competent Care

Abstract

Background: Culturally competent health care professionals have a positive influence on patient care. This article profiles a study that evaluated the impact of a cultural empathy simulation on nursing students’ intention to practice in culturally competent manner. Method: We designed the Theory of Planned Behaviour: Cultural Competence Questionnaire and used it to measure differences in behavioural intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural between a control and an experimental group. Results: Participants in the experimental group (n = 241) had higher attitude and behavioural intention scores than those in the control group (n = 219). However, differences between groups for perceived behavioural control and social norm scores were not significant. Conclusions: As the Theory of Planned Behaviour posits that intention scores provide a proxy for actual behaviour, and that attitude is the strongest predictor of intention, these results are encouraging. However, further research is required to examine factors that influence these variables.