An investigation of the attitudes and cultural self -efficacy levels among nurses caring for patients in Army hospitals

This study investigated the attitudes and cultural self-efficacy levels of nurses caring for patients at three Army Hospitals. Three research questions were asked and answered. A combination of two research instruments were used for data collection: The Cultural Attitudes Assessment Survey and the Cultural Self-efficacy Scale. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Multivariate Analysis of Variance, Chi-square, and Pearson Product-moment Correlation. The study found significant differences in nurses attitudes and cultural self-efficacy levels. Nurses had more positive attitudes toward patients of similar ethnic groups. Attitudes were more positive toward the African American patient and least positive toward the Latino American patient. Male nurses had more positive attitudes than female nurses, civilian nurses were more positive than military nurses, and nurses with diplomas and associates in nursing had more positive attitudes than nurses with graduate degrees. However, these findings were not significant. For cultural self-efficacy, nurses expressed a fairly high degree of confidence in their knowledge of cultural concepts and in performing specific nursing skills. They also displayed high confidence in their knowledge of cultural patterns for African Americans and Latino Americans, and low confidence for Asian Americans. Male nurse had higher confidence levels than female nurses, military nurses had higher levels than civilian nurses, and nurses with associate and diploma degrees had higher levels of comfort than nurses with graduate degrees, but only for African Americans and Latino Americans.