The effect of a cultural sensitivity education program on the intercultural sensitivity and compassion levels of Turkish nurses: A randomized controlled trial

Aim: This study was performed to measure the effect of a cultural sensitivity education program in increasing Turkish nurses' intercultural sensitivity and compassion levels. Background: Intercultural care encompasses compassion, an indispensable value of nursing care. The primary purpose of compassion is to ensure the well-being and welfare of the individuals. Design: A parallel group randomized controlled trial. Methods: The study was completed by 64 nurses, 32 in the intervention and 32 in the control groups. A Cultural Sensitivity Education Program was presented to the intervention group. Instruments were given to both groups before the intervention (pre-test), one week after the intervention (post-test) and three months later (follow-up test). Chi-square, and two-way mixed-design variance analysis with Bonferroni Multiple Comparison Test were used to analyze the data. Results: The post-test and follow-up test mean scores of intercultural sensitivity and compassion of the intervention group after the intervention increased significantly compared to the control group. The intervention had a large effect size. Conclusions: The study showed that the cultural sensitivity education program effectively increased the nurses' intercultural sensitivity and compassion levels. Nurse managers could integrate education programs into the inservice education programs to improve the intercultural sensitivity and compassion levels of nurses.