Paper Title
A STUDY OF PERCEPTIONS OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN NURSING AMONG NURSING STUDENTS IN THE EASTERN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR OF THAILAND

Abstract
Background: The cultural competence of nurse has become core competency in nursing care in the current world among cultural diversity of patients.Lack of competence, it can directly impactfor caring patients.Cultural competence of nursing students should be consideredand instilled during study. Aims: To study the perceptions of cultural competencein nursing and comparative the perceptions of cultural competencein nursing culture between 3rdand 4th year nursing students in the eastern economic corridor of Thailand. Study Design: This study used descriptive research. The research collected data students were 148 students of 3rd and 4th yearnursing students. The collected data queries using two parts: the first query privacy and second questionnaire about assessment the nursing cultural competency by the researcher translated the questionnaire from the nurse cultural competence scale (NCCS) and data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The research results found thatthe perceptions of cultural competence in nursing among nursing students had high cultural competence (x ̅=162.22, SD=13.55). It was found that cultural skillswas the highest (x ̅=54.17, SD=5.98)and cultural sensitivity was the lowest (x ̅=30.49, SD=3.37). Average of perceptions of cultural competence among 4th year nursing students (x ̅=163.68 , SD=13.33)were higher than the perceptions of cultural competence among 3rd year nursing students (x ̅=160.55, SD=13.72).There was no difference in cultural competence between 3rdyear nursing students and 4th year nursing students (p=.162) Conclusions: Thailand has ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. Therefore, nursing students must have skills that are ready to understand cultural diversity and be able to provide quality and culturally appropriate care to all patient groups. Implications for Practice: Developing cultural competence of nursing students is an essential skill that everyone should acquire during theoretical learning and apply in practice to be ready to become professional nurses in the present era. Keywords: Perception, Cultural Competence, Nursing Students