Enhancing intercultural sensitivity in Japanese nursing students through international online nursing courses: A quasi-experimental study

Background: Globalization has highlighted the importance of being competent in communicating with people of various cultural backgrounds.Purpose: To evaluate the effect of international courses for nursing students through online education in terms of intercultural sensitivity and perceived English proficiency.Design: A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with an online self-reported questionnaire was conducted.Participants and Settings: Participants were second-, third-, and fourth-year nursing students at a medical university in Tokyo in the spring term of 2021.Method: Measurements were performed before and after the international nursing courses, which consisted of 1) nursing communication English, taught by native English instructors to second-and third-year students; and 2) international health nursing, taught by overseas-experienced faculty members to fourth-year students. Furthermore, there is an elective Collaborative Online International Learning course, where students discuss, collaborate, and complete common assignments with students from a university in the United States. Intercultural sensitivity was measured using the Japanese version of the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale. The pre-and posttest intercultural sensitivity were compared using a paired t-test. Content analysis was employed to analyze the open-ended questions.Results: A total of 104 students' data were analyzed. Students' intercultural sensitivity mean improved significantly from 79.88 & PLUSMN; 8.47 (pre) to 83.04 & PLUSMN; 8.63 (post). Participants in the elective course (n = 7) showed significantly higher intercultural sensitivity levels than non-participants. The self-evaluated English proficiency of second-and third-year students who took English courses significantly improved after the courses. Themes extracted by elective course participants revealed students' perceptions toward learning about diverse cultures, resilience, and intercultural communication skills, which they can utilize for nursing practice in the future.Conclusion: Taking international nursing courses can increase nursing students' intercultural sensitivity. Universities are encouraged to provide international nursing courses to help enhance their cultural sensitivity and competency for their future nursing careers.