Examination of individualised care behaviours and ethnocentrism of nurses caring for refugees: A descriptive and exploratory study

Background Qualified individualised nursing care should be provided to all communities and ethnic groups with free of ethnocentrism. Aims To evaluate nurses' individualised care behaviours and ethnocentric attitudes and predict the relationship between their individualised care behaviours and ethnocentric attitudes. Design A descriptive and exploratory study. Methods This study was conducted with 250 nurses working in a public and two private hospitals in a city, an area with many refugees. Data were collected using the Ethnocentrism Scale and Individualised Care Behaviours Scale. Structural equation model analysis to test hypothetical model and descriptive statistics were used. Results Nurses working in the private hospitals had a higher individualised care decision control mean score. Those nurses who enjoyed spending time with people from different cultures had lower mean ethnocentrism scale scores, higher individualised care clinical status, personal life and decision control status subscales mean scores compared to other nurses. Mean scores of the individualised care personal life and decision control status subscales of the nurses who followed the literature on transcultural nursing was higher. A significant relationship between the ethnocentrism levels and individualised care behaviours was identified. Accordingly, the ethnocentric attitudes of the nurses negatively affected their individualised care behaviours, and the model established between the two concepts is statistically appropriate. Conclusions Nurses who work in private hospitals, receive intercultural nursing education and enjoy spending time with different cultures have higher individualised care behaviours and lower ethnocentrism levels. Ethnocentric attitudes of the nurses negatively affected their individualised care behaviours. Care strategies should be developed that consider the factors that will maximize individualised care practices that minimize ethnocentric behaviours among nurses. Implications for the Profession Increasing awareness on individualised care behaviours, ethnocentric attitudes and effected factors will contribute to improve of nursing care quality of nurses while giving care to individuals from different cultures.