Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Alice Conway

Abstract

Aboriginal people bear a burden of health disparities when compared to non-Aboriginal people in Canada. To date, traditional health-related programs to address these disparities have not been effective. Compounding this problem, the Aboriginal people have also reported dissatisfaction with the healthcare system and the relationships they experience with healthcare providers. However, the literature supports that when providers employ cultural competence in their practice, there is a possibility for improved relationships with patients. Using critical social theory as a framework, the purpose of this project was to conduct a 1-hour class on cultural competence for care coordinators and nurses in a homecare organization in Southern Ontario, and to determine if there was an increase in cultural competence knowledge of Aboriginal people. Fifteen registered nurses attended the educational intervention. Due to the small sample size the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to estimate the difference in scores between pre- and post-test evaluations. Pretest scores were significantly lower than post-test scores (z = -3.05, p < 0.01). Four of the 7 survey items relating to culture affecting daily work, comfort level with cultural competence knowledge, cultural awareness, and addressing power imbalance in the patient provider relationship were individually statistically significant. The findings were supported by comments written in the surveys. It is hoped that the results of this project will be used to demonstrate the importance of cultural competency in care delivery among the Canadian Aboriginal people.

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