Teaching Cultural Competence in Holistic Care to Thai Nursing Students:A Case Study in Southern Thailand

Holistic care in a cultural diversity world has become greatest attention in the public health services particularly where there are cultural gaps between clients and providers. Due to ethnic conflicts over several decades in southern Thailand and the eruption of violence, it is essential to accommodate the situation through nursing education. The aim of this paper was to increase students' awareness about the essence of culture in care so as to enable them to implement holistic care. Lesson learnt from previous studies and direct experiences in working with a predominantly Muslim population and migrant workers could be an example to direct some efforts for integration of cultural competence in holistic nursing curricula. Following feedback from the cohort groups in 2008-2009 to improve cultural knowledge, awareness and skills among undergraduate nursing students, the multiple approaches are required such as increasing an understanding of self and other values, exposing the reality of cultural diverse groups, facilitating individual and group interaction through media or scenario related to cultural sensitive issues and possible conflicts in health care system. A model for cultural competence integration in nursing curricula for preparing Thai nursing students and evaluate the outcomes of prepared nurses in the workplace are also presented.