Leadership and cultural competence of healthcare professionals: a social network analysis

International migration is a global phenomenon challenging healthcare professionals to provide culturally competent care.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of leaders on the cultural competence of healthcare professionals.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 2010 to 2012 to obtain data for a social network analysis in 19 inpatient services and five primary care services in Belgium. The Competences in Ethnicity and Health questionnaire was used. A total of 507 healthcare professionals, including 302 nurses, identified their social relationships with other healthcare professionals working in their service. Highest in-degree centrality was used to identify the leaders within each health service. Multiple regressions with the Huber sandwich estimator were used to link cultural competence of leaders with the cultural competence of the rest of the healthcare staff.

Cultural competence of the healthcare staff was associated with the cultural competence of the leaders. This association remained significant for two specific domains of cultural competence-mediation and paradigm-after controlling for contextual and sociodemographic variables. Interaction analysis suggested that the leadership effect varied with the degree of cultural competence of the leaders.

Cultural competence among healthcare professionals is acquired partly through leadership. Social relationships and leadership effects within health services should be considered when developing and implementing culturally competent strategies. This requires a cautious approach as the most central individuals are not always the same persons as the formal leaders.