Nursing Education and its Cultural Congruency in the Sultanate of Oman: Case Study

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study is to explore whether the cultural aspects of client care as included in the nursing curriculum in the Sultanate of Oman are satisfactory. This concept will be examined by reviewing the Omani Ministry of Health’s (MoH) approach to designing, developing, and implementing a general nursing curriculum. Method: This case study was explored qualitatively to determine whether nursing education addresses culturally congruent care adequately through the review of educational policy documents, semi-structured qualitative individual interviews, and focus groups. The data was collected from the MoH’s nursing education decision-makers, educators, students, and service users (public) over a period of six months. To identify themes, the data was analyzed using Ritchie and Spencer’s five-stage analytical framework. The study used purposeful sampling to select study participants from the MoH nursing education decision-makers, educators, students and service users. Results: The study revealed that the MoH’s current approach to nursing curriculum falls short of what Denis Lawton considers a culturally competent curriculum. Conclusion: The study proposes to reexamine the cultural care content in the nursing education in Oman.