Study design and settings
psychiatric
SECONDARY
The present study was a randomized controlled conducted with a pretest-posttest design and intervention and control groups. The study settings included six governmental nursing schools affiliated with medical universities of Kerman province in southeastern Iran, including Kerman, Bam, Jiroft, Zarand, Sirjan, and Rafsenjan. At the time of data collection, there were approximately 1,370 nursing students enrolled in these schools, with 450 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in Kerman, 140 undergraduate students in Bam and Jiroft, and 140 undergraduate students in Zarand. Sirjan had 150 nursing students, and Rafsanjan had 350 undergraduate and graduate students.In Iran, nursing educational programs are offered at the baccalaureate, master’s, and PhD degree levels. To be admitted to governmental or Azad universities, students must hold a secondary school diploma and pass the entrance exam. Governmental universities do not charge tuition fees, whereas students at Azad University, a private institution, are required to pay necessary expenses. Additionally, the PhD degree program is only offered at governmental universities, which are supervised by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sciences. The baccalaureate degree in nursing is the primary pathway to enter the nursing profession in Iran. The program typically lasts for four years and involves clinical education starting from the second term and continuing through the completion of the sixth term, in conjunction with theoretical subjects. The seventh and eighth terms are dedicated to practical training programs. Currently, nursing educational programs across Iran are standardized and developed under the supervision of the Supreme Council of the Ministry of Health. These programs include theoretical subjects, training, and internship courses offered in various educational and university-affiliated hospitals. In clinical settings, nursing students receive direct supervision and guidance from nurse educators, but in the final year, student activities are primarily performed under the supervision of nursing personnel, with alternate supervision from nurse educators. During their years of study, nursing students in Iran have the opportunity to interact with patients in the various clinical areas and gain valuable experience. Students’ progress in clinical settings starts with simple issues and gradually moves toward more complex cases. Currently, Iranian nurses must hold a bachelor’s degree from accredited universities confirmed by the Ministry of Health to work in this field. The majority of nurses in hospitals have bachelor’s degrees and are recruited using the same pattern. There are no registered nurses (RN) in the hospitals. Master’s and PhD degree programs are available for nurses who wish to become nurse educators. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree and passing the entrance exam, nurses are eligible to continue their studies in one of the following master’s degree majors: community health nursing, medical surgical nursing, neonatal intensive care nursing, critical care nursing, psychiatric nursing, geriatric nursing, and nursing management. After completing their master’s degree, graduates mainly become responsible for nurses’ education or clinical settings. The duration of the master’s program is 2.5 years, and nurses holding a master’s degree are eligible to continue their studies in a PhD program in nursing after passing the entrance exam. The PhD program typically lasts for about 4–5 years, and its graduates mainly work in educational and research positions in the field of nursing.The cultural care competence program was introduced to the American nursing curriculum in 1966. However, in Iran, despite the first nursing school’s establishment by an American religious group, cultural issues received minimal attention in the nursing education program. Even today, cultural care remains a low priority in nursing education in Iran and is not addressed in the official program [