The purpose of this study was to determine the cultural adaptability of full time faculty in the College of Health Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. The sample consisted of 40 health science faculty representing dental hygiene, medical laboratory sciences, nursing and physical therapy. The principal investigator personally administered the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), a 50 item instrument, which contains questions to measure the construct cultural adaptability and its four dimensions: emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perceptual acuity and personal autonomy. The CCAI is not targeted to one particular culture, but rather is designed to be culture general.
Analysis of variance revealed no statistically significant difference, at the 0.05 level, in the overall CCAI scores among dental hygiene, medical laboratory sciences, nursing and physical therapy faculty. Analysis of CCAI scores among dental hygiene, medical laboratory sciences, nursing and physical therapy faculty, using analysis of variance revealed no statistically difference, at the 0.05 level, in emotional resilience, perceptual acuity and personal autonomy. In the dimension flexibility /openness, a significant difference was exhibited between the physical therapy and medical laboratory sciences faculty.
Overall, all four faculty groups exhibited higher average CCAI scores than the CCAI norm group which consisted of individuals with cross-cultural experience and training. Results suggest that the majority of the health science faculty possess qualities necessary to be cross-culturally adaptable. These qualities provide a strong foundation for the development of additional competence in cross-cultural healthcare and for preparing practitioners who can provide culturally sensitive healthcare
