Cross-cultural perceptions of infection prevention and control climate among Lebanese and Norwegian nursing students’ post COVID-19: a qualitative descriptive study

The aim of this research was to explore Lebanese and Norwegian nursing students’ cross-cultural perceptions of infection prevention and control (IPC) climate of their training hospitals after COVID-19.

A qualitative descriptive research design informed by descriptive phenomenology was used.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 8 Lebanese and 7 Norwegian nursing students. Data collection continued until data saturation was achieved. Inductive thematic analysis was employed over the course of 3 months.

The thematic analysis yielded four themes reflecting professional and behavioral influences on IPC, including “Positive perception and importance of IPC”, “Lacking a Role Model”, and “Prioritizing task completion over safety”, and “Feeling Incompetent”. Cross cultural differences were mainly connected to organizational and contextual factors, namely: “Lack of equipment”, “Culture of patient contact”, “Heightened attention vs. variable adherence to IPC”, and “Organizational differences”.

Lebanese and Norwegian nursing students shared highly similar experiences and challenges in infection prevention and control, while some culturally relevant differences were noted.