Cultural safety and nursing education in divided societies

This research explores the experiences of cultural safety among nursing students from majority and minority groups in a divided society with implications for academic satisfaction and success.

The study takes place in an academic nursing program in Israel, where Arab and Jewish students study together.

A researcher-developed questionnaire was used with 17 statements concerning social relations between students, faculty support, and the effects of social relations on academic satisfaction and outcomes.

Significant differences were found in the ways Arab and Jewish students perceived the cultural safety of the environment. Arab students perceived social relations and faculty attitude as less positive than Jewish students and perceived cultural safety as having greater influence on academic satisfaction and success.

The findings indicate that students from different groups will perceive the same shared reality in significantly different ways. Nurse faculty and administrators need to make efforts to bring perceptions into closer alignment and to minimize the negative impact of external conflicts on feelings of cultural safety.