Intercultural Nursing Educators and Students (TraINErs)

Description

Background

The diverse society in Switzerland dictates that intercultural competent nurses are needed. The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) however claims that healthcare staff in Switzerland lack intercultural skills. Training programs for health care professionals is considered a key intervention to reduce health disparities.

The FOPH (2008) states that investing in the health of the migrant population is not just a noble gesture; it is worthwhile in terms of cost effectiveness. For example, in a USA study by LaVeist, Gaskin and Richard (2009) it becomes clear, how costly health care can be when health disparities remain. They state that “Researchers have determined that between 2003 and 2006 the combined direct and indirect costs of health disparities in the US was $1.24 trillion”(p.6). This cost only reflects the monetary cost, not the personal suffering of the patients and their families.

Improving the intercultural competence of educators and nurses will have an economical and societal impact. It helps to meet the needs of society. ZHAW wants to sharpen her profile in regard to graduating interculturally competent graduates. The project has a high exemplary value for other higher education institutions in the health and social sector in Switzerland.

Aims

The project includes three major phases focusing on the following three Topics:

Profiling: Profile identification and validation of an INE,
Material development: Creating a curriculum/syllabus for blended intercultural education and create an open source online/mobile training module for educators and students,
Evaluation: Training module for intercultural communication in nursing and create a tool for evaluating the impact of intercultural training interventions on the competence and skills of the INE.

Benefits/Results

The state-of-the-art validated profile of an INE, the research based online material, and the tool to evaluate cultural growth are the expected benefits.

Video: Trainers Erasmus - students' experience Silkeborg 2022

Key data

Projectlead

Eva van der Linden

Project team

Prof. em Dr. Maria Schubert, Prof. Dr. Daniela Händler-Schuster, Susan Schärli-Lim, Diana Schmidli-Waser

Project partners

University College Antwerp; University of Modena and Reggio Emilia; Basque healthcare system Osakidetza; Udruzenje Centar Djordje Vajfert, Serbia; St. Clement of Ohrid University of Bitola; VIA University College; Intercultural Development Research Institute IDRI Europe; Interculturate Belgium; Berner Bildungszentrum Pflege AG

Project status

completed, 09/2019 - 12/2022

Institute/Centre

Institute of Nursing (IPF)

Funding partner

Movetia