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Abstract

Purpose: Nursing worldwide and specifically in Vietnam is caring for patients with diverse cultural backgrounds. Cultural awareness helps nurses minimize inequalities in health care, boost patient satisfaction, and enhance the quality of care. This study was conducted to identify the cultural awareness of Vietnamese nursing students and to collect some related factors.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 452 nursing students in the second to fourth years of Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy from April to November 2021. We employed a universal sampling technique. The Cultural Awareness Scale (CAS) was used to identify the level of cultural competence of nursing students. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.

Results: The results indicated that the average score of nursing students’ cultural awareness was quite high (M=181.12; SD=22.09), specifically, 5 domains of the CAS also expressed a slightly high average score. Besides, nursing students with age around 20–21 years old (P=0.006), learning in 2nd year (P=0.023), being participated in culturally related courses (P=0.023), and having relationships with people from different cultural areas (P=0.020) showed a higher cultural awareness than other participants.

Discussion: Cultural awareness is an important content that needs to be taught in nursing training programs, moreover, students also need to improve this skill during clinical practice to improve the quality of care and ensure equity among patients of different cultures.

Conclusion: Cultural awareness training should be provided to students at the beginning and even after graduation. Exploring cultural awareness, its predictors, and implementing interventions to promote cultural awareness for nursing students should be considered for implementation in the future.

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