Cultural competence among nursing students in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study J.P. Cruz 1 RN,PhD, N. Alquwez 1 RN, PhD(c), C.P. Cruz 2 PhD, MLS (ASCPi) CM, R.F.D. Felicilda-Reynaldo 3 RN, EdD, L.M. Vitorino 4 RN, PhD & S.M.S. Islam 5,6,7,8 PhD 1 Lecturer, Nursing Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University, Dawadmi, Saudi Arabia, 2 Assistant Lecturer, Medical Laboratory Science Program, University of Wyoming, Casper, WY, 3 Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA, 4 Assistant Researcher, Paulista School of Nursing, Federal University of S~ ao Paulo – UNIFESP, S~ ao Paulo, Brazil, 5 Senior Research Investigator, Non-Communicable Diseases Initiative, International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), 6 Assistant Professor, NCD, Bangladesh University of Health Science Postdoc Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 7 Adjunct Faculty, Diabetes Research, University of Munich, Munich, Germany, 8 Fellow, The George Institute for Global Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia CRUZ J.P., ALQUWEZ N., CRUZ C.P., FELICILDA-REYNALDO R.F.D., VITORINO L.M. & ISLAM S.M.S. (2017) Cultural competence among nursing students in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study. International Nursing Review 00, 000–000 Aim: This study assessed the cultural competence of nursing students in a Saudi University. Background: With the current situation of immigration in Saudi Arabia, the cultural diversity in healthcare facilities is anticipated to grow. This presents a great challenge to the members of the healthcare team. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 272 nursing students in a Saudi university using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of two parts, namely the respondents’ demographics and cultural background information sheet and the Cultural Capacity Scale Arabic version. Results: The respondents showed the highest competence in their ability to demonstrate communication skills with culturally diverse patients and lowest in the familiarity with health- or illness-related cultural knowledge or theory. Gender, academic level, clinical exposure, prior diversity training, the experience of taking care of culturally diverse patients and patients belonging to special population groups were significant factors that could likely to influence cultural competence. Discussion: The findings suggest that the Saudi nursing students possess the ability to provide culturally appropriate nursing care to patients with a diverse cultural background. Conclusions: Despite the good cultural competence reflected in this study, some aspects in ensuring a culturally competent care rendered by Saudi nursing students need to be improved. Implications for nursing & health policy: With the country’s Saudization policy in health care (replacing foreign nurses with Saudi nurses), the findings can be used in designing training and interventions to meet Correspondence address: Jonas Preposi Cruz, Nursing Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University, PO Box 1678, Dawadmi 11911, Saudi Arabia; Tel: +966506521179; E-mails: cruzjprn@gmail.com; cruzjpc@su.edu.sa. Funding This research received non-financial assistance from Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. Conflict of interest No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors. 1 © 2017 International Council of Nurses Original Article