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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the study results conducted at a four-year university in Hawaii investigating the impact of providing nursing students with an educational intervention session aimed at improving cultural competence.

A descriptive-correlational research method was used to examine the correlations between a control group and experimental group using pre-and post-tests. The t-test for equality of means and Levene’s test for equality of variances were conducted for statistical analysis on pre-and post-test scores. In addition, a power analysis was conducted due to the small sample size.

The control group receiving no intervention scored lower on the post-test in overall competency by five points, while the experimental group increased their post-score by five points after receiving the intervention; however, this increase did not change the overall cultural competence score. The results indicate that the educational intervention of a two-hour didactic, discussion and presentation did not provide as robust as what was needed to increase domain scores for the experimental group. Further, the domains of awareness, skill, knowledge, encounter and desire cannot be taught by instruction alone and should be reinforced over time.

The study was a convenience sample and limited by the small sample size. The sample may not be representative of all senior nursing students. The study is limited to one school of nursing in Hawaii; the results may not be generalized to other populations.

This research provides a foundation for future curriculum development and the evaluation of nursing programs. For instance, incorporating a value-added instructional project on cultural competence into each nursing class would increase cultural competence awareness and knowledge.

This study also emphasizes the necessity of education in cultural competence for all health professionals, which has implications for improving quality, patient satisfaction and increased health outcomes.

This research is unique to examining and applying an educational intervention on cultural competence for nursing students in Hawaii. This research sheds light on studying the importance of culture competence for nursing students and other health professionals. This is not a skill that can be taught in one class or only even a single immersion experience and should be acquired over time where continuing education and encounters are necessary in order to become culturally competent; this will enable health professionals to provide meaningful and appropriate care to patients.

This paper aims to analyze Northern Manitoba employers' indexes of employability skills that influence the UCN (University College of the North) students' employability in indigenous contexts.

This study constructs the employability skills into six indexes from employers' perspective: reading comprehension, numeracy, technology, soft skills, job searching skills and indigenous cultural awareness. Mixed methods have been applied to this research: survey data are used for empirical analysis of the six indexes of employability skills; secondary sources of similar studies together with functional theory in education as a framework is adopted to explore the breadth and depth of employability skills requested by employers; indexing analysis is adopted to validate the necessity of developing such skills in indigenous contexts in Northern Manitoba.

The correlation analyses and mean values show that employers in Northern Manitoba take the six indexes as influential factors of students' employability. As such, the study indicates that Northern Manitoba employers consider employability in indigenous contexts as a combination of basic skills, professional requirements, soft skills and cultural awareness. The employers' attested employability is in line with the concept of the technical-function theory, which requires education to meet the demand for updated job skills due to a technological change. Moreover, Northern Manitoba employers' emphasis on indigenous cultural awareness as employability skills rationalizes the necessity to integrate indigenous cultural contents into programs and curriculums in UCN and post-secondary institutes with similar attributes. It confirms that indigenous cultural awareness is required by employers in Northern Manitoba populated with indigenous communities. The research findings suggest that the functional theory of education might help UCN and similar institutions globally to offer programs that will reduce employment inequality.

This research is conducted among the employers in Northern Manitoba, and the indexes and their factors are designed to evaluate UCN students' employability in general.

The outcomes of this paper can be applied as a parameter for upgrading educational strategies to integrate essential and professional employability skills such as reading comprehension, numeracy, technology, soft skills and job searching skills with indigenous cultural components into UCN curriculums and programs. It can be applied to other post-secondary institutes with similar attributes to enhance their students' employability. Furthermore, the research findings can be used as a guideline for UCN to tailor their programs for the job market locally and as references for post-secondary institutions with similar student compositions globally.

This paper provides empirical evidence from the employers' viewpoint to support the necessity of integrating essential and professional employability skills with indigenous cultural awareness into the curriculums and programs of UCN, a post-secondary institution in indigenous populated Northern Manitoba. Furthermore, it is also attested that employers consider indigenous cultural awareness as an influential factor of students' employability in indigenous contexts.

Strengthening the nation’s technological workforce, competing and expanding its relevance in the global economy, and maintaining personal as well as homeland security will be highly dependent on the quantity, quality, and diversity of the next generations of scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematicians. Production of a diverse generation of human resources with relevant, competitive skills is critical. However, so too is the need to raise an enlightened citizenry with cross-cultural experience and cultural awareness competency, with a broad worldview and global perspectives. These requirements are critical to understanding the challenges and opportunities of scholarly activity in a pluralistic global environment and positioning ourselves to capitalize upon them. Scholars with cross-cultural experience and competency are empowered to adapt and work collaboratively, nationally and globally, with scholars of different races, geopolitical, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. Development of effective strategies to transform science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments for inclusion and to broaden the participation in STEM across cultures, socioeconomic standing, race, and gender in higher education has been a dominant topic of pedagogical interest of national priority in the last several decades. However, success in these endeavors is achievable only through systemic change and a cultural shift to address the underlying root causes of socioeconomic disparity, gender, and racial disparities and a paucity of cultural awareness among all educational stakeholders. STEM departments can only be truly transformed for inclusion through the development of sensitive, creative, and student-engaging curricula and targeted recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in STEM. Formation of well-coordinated alliances spanning educational sectors, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and community engagement and outreach are also critical to promoting inclusive and broad participation in STEM education.

The first section of the chapter gives an introduction to various challenges, obstacles, and hindrances that prevent a successful transformation of K–12 science education as well as STEM departments in higher education for inclusion. The second section discusses historical perspectives of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (UAFS) – the institutional profile, missions, and visions of UAFS as a regional university. Policies and strategies for addressing the socioeconomic disparity, faculty gender, and racial disparities and cultural competency awareness at UAFS are also highlighted in this section. Other approaches including targeted efforts to recruit and retain underrepresented minority students, provision of financial assistance for students from low-income families, and a creative “Math-up” curriculum innovation to promote inclusive and broad participation in STEM at UAFS are highlighted in the latter section of the chapter. Formation of alliances between UAFS, local K–12 school districts, and governmental and non-governmental agencies to promote broad participation in STEM at UAFS are discussed. The last section of the chapter provides recommendations for adaptation and sustainability of strategies and efforts aimed at transforming national STEM departments for inclusion.

According to the Census, racial/ethnic minority populations are growing at such a fast rate that by 2050 more than 50% of the population will belong to a minority group (US Census, 2001). The increasing diversity of the U.S. population is one of the many changes that health care delivery organizations need to proactively address in order to better serve their community and improve their performance. In this paper, we argue that cultural competency not only is important from a societal perspective, i.e., reducing health disparities, but can also be a strategy for health care organizations to improve quality, lower cost, and attract customers. We provide detailed recommendations for health care leaders and managers to adopt in order to successfully serve a diverse patient population.

The recognition of the importance of addressing cultural issues in psychotherapy and counseling has been increasing. The present paper seeks to contribute to the specification of multicultural competencies in the fields of counseling and clinical psychology, based on clients’ perspectives. In particular, its objectives were to explore the experiences of individuals of ethnic minority groups regarding their access to the Portuguese healthcare system and to identify the multicultural competencies of the clinicians (as perceived by the clients) which would be required to improve culturally sensitive treatments.

The sample included 40 adults from different ethnic minority groups in Portugal – a total of 30 women and ten men – with a mean age of 34. Participants took part in one of eight focus groups, which were conducted using a semi‐structured interview plan.

Content analysis revealed that, generally, participants had experienced discrimination in the healthcare system, and that mental healthcare was perceived as mixed (both positive and negative). Furthermore, participants identified specific aspects of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills required of clinicians to provide culturally sensitive treatments, providing support for the tridimensional model of multicultural competencies.

Implications are discussed for ethical guidelines and clinical training of counselors, clinical psychologists, and other social and health professionals in Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate a model of prejudice reduction and cultural identity development theory to assess: the implementation of a diversity case study in a disaster management course; and the cultural competency understanding among the students.

A diversity case study was implemented in an undergraduate Disaster Response and Recovery course (Fall 2013 n=17; Spring 2014 n=21; Fall 2014 n=35). The discussion encouraged students to contemplate how their biases, preconceived notions, and stereotypes affect their future role in emergency management.

Results from Likert scale pre/post tests showed a marked increase in knowledge and a positive change in attitudes (p < 0.05). Open-responses denoted linkages to the prejudice reduction model and cultural identity development theory.

Bias can be attributed to the instructor and facilitator, and contextual limitations including a lack of: previous conversations and courses on diversity-related topics and participation motivation.

By developing cultural competency, managers initiate intergroup contact reducing negative perceptions and increasing empathy for those deemed different. Integrating cultural competency into emergency management academic programs allows students to identify how their biases, stereotypes, and preconceived notions affect their performance.

This study contributes to the literature by focussing on implementing a diversity case study to explore cultural competency, which is lacking in emergency management higher education. The diversity case study and instructional design could be adopted in disaster management courses.

Higher education institutions shape the professions which are the conduit for the disciplines’ ways of knowing, the worldview or mindset of the professions, and the intellectual frameworks by which problems and policies are defined. The generational, conscious, and unconscious agreements between higher education and the professions perpetuate the status quo, resulting in continued disproportional impacts based on race, gender, ethnicity, language, orientation, and differing abilities in every major industry sector; including education, health, employment, housing, finance, technology, and the criminal justice system. Cultural responsive pedagogy provides a process of altering these agreements by surfacing the dual consciousness of our multiple social identities and the multidimensional social, political, and economic contexts in our collective co-existence. The connections between culture and mindset, conscious and unconscious, and the social-political context shape teaching and learning. Mindfulness is a pathway for cultivating cultural competency through embodied awareness by building the reflective muscle to recognize, disrupt, and transform deep-rooted beliefs, entrenched assumptions, and well-established behaviors. Mindfulness invites both faculty and students to bring their intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual selves to the learning exchange.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritise competencies of Indonesian third-party logistics (3PL) managers from the perspective of multinational corporations (MNCs) and local firms.

Underlined by the theory of action and job performance (competency model), the study proposes a framework that consists of management, logistics, business and information and communication technology competency categories, with 15 competencies. Data are collected from five MNCs and five local 3PL firms operating in Indonesia. The analytic hierarchy process method is used to calculate the priority weights and to prioritise the competencies.

Results indicate that both the local and MNC 3PL providers emphasise logistics as the “most important” competency category. In the “moderately important” competency group, MNCs prioritise competencies in the management competency category while local firms prioritise competencies in the business competency category.

Results obtained in this study focus on 3PL firms in Indonesian businesses, which may not be applicable to other nations and other industries.

3PL firms, industry peak bodies (e.g. Indonesian Logistics Association) and education providers can benefit from incorporating the findings of this study in developing curricula for higher education and training programmes for certification designed to improve managerial competencies.

By including the perceptions of the MNCs and local 3PL providers, this study advances the literature on 3PL managerial competencies by extending such knowledge to the global environment.

Psychotherapy and clinical supervision outcomes are influenced by client and supervisee factors, one of which is cultural identity. Those with diverse racial and ethnic minoritised identities often experience disparities in therapy outcomes. Therapists and supervisors need to be responsive to the identity of those they support. The multicultural orientation (MCO) framework is an emerging concept in psychotherapy and clinical supervision that may offer these practitioners a framework to be responsive.

A preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews was conducted. Six databases, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Academic Search Complete, Web of Science and PsychInfo, were searched for peer-reviewed literature published in English between the years 2000 and 2023.

A total of 1,553 sources were identified, of which (n = 42) are included in this review. Findings suggest that MCO is still in its infancy as applied to therapy and clinical supervision. Most of the research has been conducted in America, using quantitative methodologies with white western populations. Cultural humility is the most studied MCO pillar, and variables such as reductions in psychological stress, the working alliance and microaggressions are reported on as outcomes. MCO applied to the group therapy process is an emerging finding of interest. However, more research is needed, especially experiential designs across different and diverse populations and contexts.

MCO is an emerging therapy and clinical supervision process that has the potential to improve the outcomes for therapy clients and supervisees. Further research is needed to replicate current studies, and further research with diverse populations, countries and contexts should be undertaken as a priority.

Social policy in the UK has subsumed race inequality into a wider framework of inequalities, managing diversity and social exclusion. However, the David Bennett Inquiry and the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) have placed ‘race’ firmly back onto the policy agenda, particularly within mental health services. In response to the Inquiry and as part of a wider strategy, the Department of Health has set out proposals to improve mental health services to black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Although there is a long history of race equality training to address race inequality in public services in the UK, the definition and effectiveness of race equality training remains unclear.This paper presents an overview of approaches to training in the UK, the evidence of effectiveness and explores whether cultural competency is an appropriate and adequate framework to address race inequality.