The Difficulties Experienced by Nurses Working in A Tertiary Hospital in Turkey while Providing Health Care to Immigrant and Refugee Patients and Intercultural Sensitivity

Year 2023, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 268 - 280, 31.05.2023

Şule Özdemir , Dilek Kıymaz

https://doi.org/10.19127/mbsjohs.1243023

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Objective: This research was carried out to evaluate the difficulties experienced by nurses during the delivery of health care to immigrant and refugee patients and their intercultural sensitivity.

Methods: The descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted with 132 nurses. In the study, "socio-demographic questions, questions about the difficulties experienced while caring for immigrant/refugee patients" and "Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS)" were applied. Mean ± standard deviation, frequency, and percentage values, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney-U test, and Spearman correlation analysis were used in the data analysis. The statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05.

Results: It was found that 65.2% of the nurses had no desire to care for migrant or refugee patients, 87.9% had difficulties while giving care, and 96.2% were found to be hindered by language differences while caring for patients. The mean total score of the ISS scale was determined as 61.58±9.96. When the ISS scale was evaluated in terms of the total score, the mean scores of those aged >30 years (p=0.021), those with undergraduate and graduate degrees (p=0.036), and those living in the city center were high (p=0.044). While the scale's total score was higher in those who benefited from the media and previous experiences as a source of cultural information (p=0.015, p=0.002, respectively), it was lower in those who had difficulties caring for immigrants and refugee patients (p=0.035).

Conclusion: In our result, it is seen that the level of intercultural sensitivity in nurses is moderate, and age, education level, and place of residence for immigrant or refugee patients affect intercultural sensitivity. It is seen that nurses with low intercultural sensitivity have difficulties in giving care to immigrant and refugee patients.

Keywords

Health care, health services, immigrant, nurse, refugee, Turkey.

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