Clinical Competencies and Professional Quality of Life Associated With Nurses' Culturally Competent Cancer Care for LGBT Individuals: A Cross‐Sectional Study

Background Disparities in cancer care among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals persist across healthcare systems worldwide. Nurses play an important role in delivering culturally competent cancer care; however, limited research has examined nurses' practices in caring for LGBT individuals with cancer and identified factors influencing such care, particularly in non‐Western cultural contexts. Aim To examine nurses' experiences in providing cancer care for LGBT individuals, their cancer care behaviours, influencing factors and perceived needs regarding knowledge, skills and care settings for delivering culturally competent cancer care. Design Cross‐sectional survey. Methods Between September and December 2024, a cross‐sectional survey was conducted in Taiwan across two hospitals, ten nursing associations, five cancer‐related foundations and three online nursing communities. A total of 608 nurses with experience caring for patients with cancer were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Nurses completed either an online or paper‐based survey. Results Nearly half of the nurses had no prior experience providing cancer care for LGBT individuals. Experience providing such care was associated with older age, non‐heterosexual identity, longer length of service, higher LGBT‐related care competencies and higher levels of job‐related compassion satisfaction and stress. Affirmative cancer care behaviours were associated with a broader and more integrated set of competencies, including knowledge, attitudes, skills, affirmative beliefs and job‐related compassion satisfaction. Nurses also reported unmet needs regarding knowledge, skills and care settings for delivering culturally competent cancer care to LGBT individuals. Conclusion These findings highlight the importance of education, resources and resilience support to strengthen nurses' delivery of culturally competent cancer care for LGBT individuals. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care Related training courses, curricula and supporting resources are essential to enhance nurses' culturally competent cancer care practices for LGBT individuals. Reporting Method STROBE checklist. Patient or Public Contribution No patient or public contribution.