Evaluation of Cultural Competencies of Students at School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Interdiction: 

Cultural competence is an important component for rehabilitation students as they have a particular job position in health centers in dealing with people of different cultures. The purpose of this study is to assess the cultural competencies of students at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

The present study was quantitative in terms of nature, applied in terms of objective, and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection. The statistical population of this study included all the students of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. There were 350 students studying at this school in 2018, 184 of whom were selected using stratified sampling method using Cochran formula. The data was collected using Standard Cultural Competence Questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the professors and experts and its reliability was approved using Cranach’s alpha of 0.871. For data analysis, correlation test, single sample t-test, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) test were used to compare the mean of cultural competence dimensions.

Results: 

Cultural competencies amongst the students were in a good condition. This means that the merits of cultural knowledge and cultural sensitivity were above the average level and the merit of cultural skills was at a moderate level. Moreover, the competency in cultural skills was the dominant competency among the students of Rehabilitation Sciences of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Another finding of this study regarding the prioritization of these competencies also showed that cultural skills were the most important and cultural sensitivity was the least important in terms of ranking.

Conclusion:

 It is imperative that the medical practitioners take the necessary measures to increase the cultural competence of the students of the rehabilitation sciences by organizing workshops to promote students' cultural competency.