title: Translation and evaluation of the Cultural Awareness Scale for Korean nursing students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the effectiveness of a curriculum for achieving high levels of cultural competence, we need to be able to assess education intended to enhance cultural competency skills. We therefore translated the Cultural Awareness Scale (CAS) into Korean (CAS-K). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cross-cultural applicability and psychometric properties of the CAS-K, specifically its reliability and validity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to conduct the evaluation. A convenience sample of 495 nursing students was recruited from four levels of nursing education within four universities in the city of Daejeon, South Korea.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study provided beginning evidence of the validity and reliability of the CAS-K and the cross-cultural applicability of the concepts underlying this instrument. Cronbach's alpha ranged between 0.59 and 0.86 (overall 0.89) in the tests of internal consistency. Cultural competency score prediction of the experience of travel abroad (r=0.084) and the perceived need for cultural education (r=0.223) suggested reasonable criterion validity. Five factors with eigenvalues >1.0 were extracted, accounting for 55.58% of the variance; two retained the same items previously identified for the CAS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CAS-K demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability in measuring cultural awareness in this sample of Korean nursing students. The revised CAS-K should be tested for its usability in curriculum evaluation and its applicability as a guide for teaching cultural awareness among groups of Korean nursing students.
authors.forename: Hyunjin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Jung-ah
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Karen G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Schepp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000193:education*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D065246:Culturally Competent Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D056910:Republic of Korea; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014175:Translating