Teaching and Learning Interventions Designed to Improve Cultural Competence in Health Profession Students: A Systematic Review

Purpose: Developing healthcare profession students' cultural competency knowledge, skills and attributes is critical to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare service consumers. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify effective cultural competence interventions for healthcare profession students. Methods: A systematic review of peer reviewed articles published from 2010-2021 using PRISMA guidelines was conducted by searching CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, PubMed, and Psych INFO databases. Article quality was assessed using the Evaluation Tool for Quantitative Research and Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Results: The initial search identified 2,261 potentially relevant studies, 41 studies met the inclusion criteria in which intervention effectiveness was evaluated using a validated outcome measure pre-and post-intervention. Only one study used a non-self-report outcome measure. Out of the 41 studies, only eight studies employed randomisation in the method. Conclusion/Recommendations: This review evaluated effectiveness of cultural competence interventions and evaluation of the intervention using either self-report or non-self-report validated outcome measures at pre-and post-intervention exposure. Combining cultural competence teaching methods such as lectures with simulations, role-playing and community engagement with diverse populations enhanced cultural competence. Further studies are required to compare effective cultural competence teaching models and identify reliable non-self-report outcome measures to assess the effectiveness of interventions post-exposure. Comparing effective cultural competence teaching models that utilise reliable non-self-report outcome measures will be valuable for guiding the design of teaching and learning interventions directed towards cultural competence. Further research is also required to examine the duration of intervention efficacy and how to maintain efficacy post-intervention exposure. Findings from this review are important for designing and structuring of cultural competence curriculum for healthcare profession students and informing future research on cultural competence teaching. This review has identified that most evaluation tools and studies have been designed for the nursing discipline. There is need to design more cultural competence evaluation tools and studies for other healthcare disciplines such as pharmacy and physical therapy.