Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control: Critical care nurses' intentions to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims

Abstract

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among critical care nurses' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims. A purposive convenience sample of 208 critical care nurses participated in this investigation. Data were collected using four Likert-scale instruments. Each subject received an attitude score, subjective norms score, perceived behavioral control score, and intention score. The findings of this investigation revealed significant positive relationships among critical care nurses' attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims and between perceived behavioral control and attitudes. Significant differences were noted between attitudes and subjective norms between those subjects who were unlikely to intend to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims and those who were likely to intend to provide culturally congruent care. The relationships among demographic variables and the main study variables supported that race, country of basic nursing education, country of highest level of education, and attendance at a transcultural nursing course had significant positive relationships with attitudes toward Arab Muslims; country of basic nursing education, job title, and attendance at a transcultural nursing course demonstrated significant positive relationships with attitudes toward providing culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims; attendance at a transcultural nursing course had a significant positive relationship with subjective norms toward providing culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims; highest level of education had a significant positive relationship with perceived behavioral control toward providing culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims; race, country of basic nursing education, country of highest level of education, years of experience in critical care nursing, and certification in critical care nursing demonstrated a significant positive relationship with control over nursing practice, and certification in critical care nursing and attendance in a transcultural nursing course had significant positive relationships with intentions toward providing culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims. The data obtained from this study supported the need for culture-specific debriefing sessions, underscored the importance of collaborative practice and interdisciplinary learning models, and established an evidence-based foundation for the design of culturally informed approaches to nursing education and service.</p>