Assessment of the level of intercultural competence in a group of public health students: a multicenter cross-sectional study in Poland – preliminary report

Introduction: Intercultural competence (IC) is a set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to work effectively in diverse cultural settings. Public health students need to develop IC to work with and promote the health of various populations. The aim of this study was to assess IC in a group of public health students from Polish universities.Materials and methods: A nationwide, cross-sectional, online survey was conducted among 106 public health students from Poland, of whom 83% were female. The participants were students from 4 universities: 48.1% in first-cycle studies and 51.9% in second-cycle studies. The study used the Cross-Cultural Competence Inventory and an original questionnaire developed for the purpose of this study; a p-value <0.05 was considered significant.Results: Participants had an overall mean IC score of 234. Most had never attended classes with foreign students (n = 56, 52.8%), nor had they been exposed to topics related to the role and importance of cultural diversity during their academic education (n = 45, 42.5%). Significantly higher levels of IC were found among students who self-rated themselves as having the knowledge and skills to interact with people from other cultures and who believed that IC can be learned (p < 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively).Conclusions: Intercultural competence may be influenced by both students’ cross-cultural experiences and their positive attitudes towards IC. This study demonstrated the need for further research on IC in public health students.