Cultural competence experiences which Chinese nurses have in Finland

Abstract

The shortage of nurses has become a global issue. Finland as a developed country is also facing the increase of aging population and the lack of healthcare workers. Therefore, more and more forgeiners are attracted to work in Finland as nurses, which include Chinese nurses as well. However, different and new cultural environment can be challenging to foreign nurses. Thus, the skill of cultural competence gain more and more attention in cross-cultural nursing care. Cultural competence is regarded as an essential ability for nurses to work effectively and provide quality nursing care in a multi-cultural environment.

This thesis focuses on the experiences of Chinese nurses regarding cultural competence in Finnish nursing environment. A qualitative research approach was used. The data was collected by semi-instructed interview with seven Chinese nurses. A questionnaire was also used as a complementary tool with the interview to collect data, which was analysed in a qualitative manner. As a method, coding and categorization were used in the data analysis. Five main categories were found: Experience of cultural difference, education of cultural competence, experience of communication skills, experience of Finnish nursing environment, and qualities of Chinese nurses. Fourteen different key experiences emerged from the data.

Because this thesis is a small-scale study and the results are limited by small number of participants, the results are not to be generalised. Still though, meaningful results appeared, which can be used as a basis for further study. As a conclusion, Chinese nurses experienced both positive and negative cultural experiences in the Finnish nursing environment, as expected.

Keywords: Chinese nurses, Cultural competence, Experiences, Finnish nursing environment