Effects of a multicultural education program based on international students’ participation on intercultural communication competence and nursing professionalism

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a multicultural education program that includes contact with persons from multiple cultures and to report on the program’s effects on intercultural communication competence and nursing professionalism.Methods: A multicultural education program that included contact with persons from multiple cultures was developed, and a quasi-experimental study was performed using a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The experimental group comprised 32 participants, and the control group comprised 26 participants. An online survey was conducted before and immediately after the intervention to collect data.Results: The experimental and control groups’ mean scores for intercultural communication competence before the intervention were 3.67 and 3.84, respectively, while their mean scores for nursing professionalism were 3.87 and 3.69, respectively. After the intervention, both the intercultural communication competence score and the nursing professionalism score improved to 4.02 in the experimental group. The study demonstrated significant improvement in intercultural communication competence and nursing professionalism after the multicultural education program was conducted.Conclusion: The study’s results demonstrate the need to develop a multicultural education program including contact and communication with persons from multiple cultures, such as international students, women who immigrated for marriage, immigrant workers, and multicultural families.