TraINErS

This Erasmus+ project is coordinated by Artesis Plantijn University College.

Context
Professional mobility has become an inherent feature of today’s global world. Mobility of the nursing profession as well as mobility in patient populations has led to cultural heterogeneity and language discordance.

Objectives
In order to respond to the growing intercultural communication needs, TraINErS –Training Intercultural Nursing Educators and Students – develops a theoretically sound (blended) training program consisting of internationally tested, validated as well as accredited online/mobile materials and longitudinal online support to train educators involved in the development of nursing students' intercultural competences and skills. TraINErS will enhance encounters with diverse patient populations as well as prepare nurses to be(come) mobile professionals integrating in new sociocultural contexts. TraINErS will define a profile with intercultural competences and skills for educators as well as students to foster intercultural communication in healthcare and develop a tool to evaluate intercultural communication growth. Thus, the program will have an immediate effect on nursing students before/during/after an international exchange, but also address intercultural competence-at-home.

Participants
The development of profile, blended program and evaluation tool will culminate in two training activities (in the east and in the north of the EU) where educators and nursing students (N=140) will collaboratively enhance their intercultural communication.

Activities
TraINErS will develop innovative learning opportunities in intercultural nursing communication by supporting nursing educators as well as students in acquiring and further developing the required skills and competences to become interculturally proficient professionals. TraINErS will first draw a reliable and validated profile of the Intercultural Nursing Educator (INE), since a study of the literature has shown that such a profile is not available and training is often not theoretically supported. The profile will be converted in an evaluative online/mobile instrument for educators to measure their own intercultural sensitivity growth and learning gain while undergoing blended training. Authentic and relevant materials will be responsibly designed and presented as part of a blended multimodal training program for intercultural nursing communication with online support culminating in an inservice training activity where educators will complete their earlier started online training and immediately apply it in sessions with international nursing students. By explicitly focusing on the intercultural communication competences in nursing the project is in line with the increasingly globalised profile of the profession and will prepare interculturally competent (pre-)professionals for the future. Every step of the development process will be evaluated on a process and product level.

Results and Impact
As an online/mobile tool and program TraINErS empowers professionals to autonomously improve their communication skills in an additional culture. The online cases will contain a test module, which will be scored. Accreditation will be put in place.

• STUDENT nurses will
  • develop awareness of their intercultural sensitivity/growth and articulate how this may affect their nursing practice;
  • compare/contrast the cultural identity in the training with their own cultural identity;
  • apply principles of intercultural nursing communication to nursing practice in different international case scenarios in the training;
  • recognize detrimental effects of ethnocentrism, cultural stereotyping, prejudice and cultural imposition;
  • identify health inequalities and support plans to improve them;
  • use culturally sensitive (non-)verbal communication in nursing care in cases during blended training;
  • develop their language (the program is English-medium taught), gain foreign language insights and interpersonal and critical thinking skills.
• EDUCATORS will
  • identify their own cultural sensitivity and gain;
  • engage in learning (about) intercultural communication in nursing;
  • engage in the teaching materials and approach to facilitate intercultural nursing communication;
  • apply teaching/learning strategies to promote their own understanding of the learning trajectory;
  • apply good practice in intercultural nursing communication through micro-teaching during the training activity.

Looking at the long-term benefits and impact, TraINErS

• introduces tailor-made communication support into the vocational training system of highly skilled professionals;
• raises awareness about intercultural communication in clinical settings;
• fosters intercultural nursing communication since professionals are provided with a tool to progress from less cultural sensitivity to a level where they will be able to operate as interculturally competent professionals;
• enhances intercultural healthcare communication.