Abstract

Three hundred actively employed female registered professional nurses representing four cultural groups (white Anglo-Saxon, black, Jewish, and Hispanic) participated in a study to investigate nurses' attitudes toward culturally different patients. Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire and Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale were used to measure the independent variables of ego defensiveness and open-closed mindedness. The Cultural Attitude Scale which was used to measure nurses' attitudes was developed by the investigator. Lower ego defensiveness of the nurses was found to result in more positive attitudes toward Hispanic patients regarding cultural attitudes and beliefs (p = .05). The more open minded the nurse, the more positive were attitudes toward all patients regarding nursing care-patient interaction (p = .01 for the white patient, p = .001 for the Hispanic, Jewish, and black patients) and cultural attitudes and beliefs. The data supported the hypothesis that ego defensiveness and open-closed mindedness predict greater variance in attitudes than one variable alone for all patients regarding nursing care-patient interaction and cultural attitudes and beliefs. Implications for nursing research, education, and practice are discussed.