Perception of European nurses of culturally-appropriate health care – a cross-sectional study

Introduction and objective.Increased migration within Europe is leading to rapid population changes in every country.Nurses increasingly care for patients with whom they do not share a common culture or language.The aim of this study is to ascertain nurses' perceptions of difficulties in providing culturally appropriate care.Materials and method.Survey questions derived from the literature were translated from Slovak into 5 languages, then distributed to nurses in 25 European States.The survey sample consisted of 1,264 respondents from 25 European countries. Statistical analysis was performed by IBM SPSS version 18.Results.Over 60% of nurses regularly cared for patients from different cultures.70.6% of nurses declared challenges during nursing care for patients from different culture.The main challenges were language, religion, and lack of cultural knowledge.Statistical significance was demonstrated in terms of the preparedness of nurses to provide culturally appropriate care.Multilingual nurses were statistically significantly better prepared for nursing care of patients from other cultures.Conclusions.Despite existing standards and guidelines, nurses working in European countries who regularly care for migrant populations do not perceive themselves to be adequately prepared to deliver culturally appropriate care.A multifaceted approach that includes policymakers, educators, and clinicians is needed.This study highlights the challenges experienced by nurses in Europe which can be informative for educational programmes for nurses and other healthcare professionals.