Education for Advanced Nursing Practice: Teaching Culturally Relevant Hygiene

Purpose: The purpose of this poster is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a series of modules created to prepare family nurse practitioner students to teach basic hygiene principles in a culturally appropriate and relevant way to people living in Langano, Ethiopia.

Background: Family nurse practitioner (FNP) student teams from the University School of Nursing (SON) have been traveling to Langano, Ethiopia annually for three years to volunteer in the Langano Health Center (LHC) as part of their final semesters’ clinical hours. Students have partnered successfully with long-term resident nurse practitioners to assist in the provision of health care to the surrounding community of 15,000 people. In Langano, SON students are expected to participate in community education programs with a hygiene emphasis. FNP student participants on the 2010 team felt unprepared to provide hygiene education in this cross-cultural setting.

Project Description: This project addresses the following learning needs of FNP students traveling to Langano, Ethiopia: (1) general cultural awareness and sensitivity when interacting with people from another culture, (2) information about Ethiopian culture, (3) basic instructions on how to teach across cultures while integrating elements of the local culture, (4) hygiene needs specific to Langano, Ethiopia, and (5) training to use visual-aides in cross-cultural education settings. The cross-cultural teaching model created by Judith Lingenfelter will be used as the theoretical framework for this project. Four education modules addressing student learning needs will be presented to students in a classroom setting using PowerPoint presentations, group discussion and online learning assignments. Students will complete a cultural self-assessment as part of one of the modules. These modules will be incorporated into the routine trip orientation in preparation for the March 2011 trip. 

Project Evaluation: Pre-trip and post-trip surveys will measure the students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of modules in preparing them for teaching hygiene in Langano, Ethiopia. Information from the survey will be used to revise the modules to make them more effective in preparing FNP students in future teams.