Team Explorers

Author: Alicia Liu | Major: Nursing | Semester: Fall 2023

Hello, my name is Alicia Liu and I’m a senior undergraduate student majoring in Nursing at the University of Arkansas. Soon, I’ll be starting off my nursing career working in a cardiology unit. In the spring of 2022, I was introduced to Dr. Michele Kilmer and her support for autism research and education. She was looking for students who wanted to start a project on researching the effects of cultural influences on the age of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) diagnosis. I felt like this project would have a positive impact on my nursing career as someone who wants to work with diverse populations and help provide the best healthcare outcomes possible.

This semester we weren’t able to travel or go to a conference, but Dr. Kilmer and the two other students (Team Explorers) I was working with completed our data collection and analysis. My job was to look at the effects of primary care cultural competency on the identification and diagnosis of developmental delay and ASD among ethnicities. I utilized the Intercultural Development Inventory and the Reasoned Action Approach Survey. The Intercultural Development Inventory measures an individual’s awareness of or sensitivity to cultural differences. It is used with individuals aged 15 years or older and can be utilized by corporations to promote systemic growth in intercultural competence. The Reasoned Action Approach Survey was created with Qualtrics to evaluate clinician perspective of ASD care management. I learned that most providers perceived their cultural values/differences to be shared amongst others. They’re unable to recognize their own implicit biases. I also learned that 38% of our participants felt neither uncomfortable nor comfortable in their capability of identifying ASD. 43% of the participants felt very uncomfortable in their capability of evaluating ASD while 33% felt very comfortable in doing so. 43% also felt very uncomfortable in their capabilities with managing ASD while 26% felt very comfortable. Cultural competency is an important part of patient care and should be considered amongst clinicians especially with the impact it has on the age of ASD diagnosis. Such development in education and training could help PCPs feel more comfortable in their capabilities and help improve patient health outcomes across all populations. Regarding other aspects of the study, I learned that guardians seeking treatment for their children face multiple barriers such as food insecurity, violence at home, literary difficulties, and financial status. There were a few obstacles I came across during this research experience. Some alterations had to be changed with how I had to view my data. For example, names were not asked in the Reasoned Action Approach Survey so I had to view the data in more of a general standpoint. It was also a bit challenging to sum up a bunch of data onto one poster for my presentation. But, I tried my best to pick out the information that best represented my part in the project.

Overall, I learned that I’m capable of anything as long as I put my mind to it. I never thought I’d be part of such an amazing research team that advocated for quality care, and didn’t think I would be able to manage this opportunity with my school work, work-life, and social life. I couldn’t have completed this research without the help of Dr. Kilmer and my teammates. I would like to thank Dr. Kilmer for doing an amazing job with helping me organize my data and supporting me every step of the way. I would like to thank our committee member Emily Richardson for working with us. We also couldn’t have completed this project without the help of Danielle Randolph and Dr. Minju Hong. I can’t wait to see how providers have changed regarding their cultural competency skills in the next couple months. I look forward to applying cultural competency skills in my future nursing practice to improve overall care.