Ιnvestigation of nurses’ perceptions regarding diversity in the health area

ABSTRACT

Background: As nursing continues to promote healthcare in the 21st century, the current shift in demographics, combined with diversity in healthcare and continuing inequalities, will require our continued attention and action.

Aim: Measuring the diversity of nurses in the work environment based on three fundamental axes (origin, gender, sexual orientation) and how these dimensions can adversely affect patient health as well as staff relationships.

Material and Method: The sample (N=106) consisted of nurses working in clinics, care units and public and private health centers, while a research tool was a non-standard questionnaire according to the needs of the study with influences from the English version of the Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool (TSET).

Results: The research questions were answered by men where they constituted 17.9% of the respondents while women by 82.1%. 45.3% of the respondents stated that in the hospital / clinic where they work, the differences in ethnicity are supported, followed by disability with a percentage of 29.2% and gender (17.9%), while sexual orientation is the least supported difference with a percentage of 7.5 %. Also, 58.5% of the respondents stated that they have never felt criticized because of their gender, while 25.5% answered that this has happened. At the same time, 92.5% of them stated that equal opportunities should be given between the sexes in the workplace. When asked about collaboration, 89.6% of respondents said they do not feel embarrassed about working with people of different backgrounds than their own. Regarding sexual orientation, 80.2% stated that their sexuality does not affect to any extent his daily life as a health professional. Finally, the internal consistency coefficient of Cronbach's alpha questionnaires was 0.859.

Conclusions: Diversity brings new ideas and experiences and people can learn from each other. Attracting different ideas and perspectives leads to better problem solving, opens dialogue and promotes creativity. This increased need to enhance diversity in nursing is not new to the profession. The value of diversity also applies to our culture.

Keywords: Diversity, nurses, equality, healthcare, workplace