Abstract:
This research aimed to develop cultural competence scale boasting with quality in light of the validity and reliability. Its specific objectives were to 1) develop the conceptual frameworks of cultural competence, 2) develop cultural competence scale based on such conceptual frameworks and to validate the quality of cultural competence scale in light of the validity and reliability, 3) to assess and compare cultural competence of secondary school students between grade levels, levels and schools in each region of Thailand, and 4) to develop norms of cultural competence scale for secondary school students. Samples were 6,149 secondary school students in Grade 7-12 chosen by multi stage random sampling from schools (under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) and Local Administrative Organizations (LAO) in 4 regions nationwide. The research instruments were the interview form and cultural competence scale for secondary school students. Findings were as follows: 1. There were 3 elements and 10 sub-elements in cultural competence. Firstly, the element of cultural awareness contained 3 sub-elements, namely, perceiving cultural diversity, being flexible and recognizing other cultures, and being considerate. Further, the next element was cultural knowledge containing 2 sub-elements; namely, knowledge in dominant culture and knowledge in universal culture. Lastly, cultural skills had 5 sub-elements; namely cultural sensitivity, self -understanding, interpersonal understanding, visionary perspective and adaptation. 2. According to the results of the analysis of cultural competence scales quality, discrimination power was between -0.50 to 0.20, while the reliability was 0.97. Second-order confirmatory factor analysis revealed scales construct validity as well. 3. According to the results of the assessment and comparison of students cultural competence based on the factors of background, female students had higher cultural competence than their male counterparts at the statistically significant difference of .01. Buddhist students had higher cultural competence than those in other religions at the statistically significant difference of .05. Students in urban areas had higher cultural competence than those in suburb areas. It was also found that in the seventh grade students had lower cultural competence than the eighth to twelfth grade students at the statistically significant difference of .01. Moreover, the ninth grade students had lower cultural competence than their twelfth grade counterparts at the statistically significant difference of .01. Students from the schools under the jurisdiction of the OBEC had higher cultural competence than those from the schools under jurisdiction of the OPEC and the LAO at the statistically significant difference of .01. 4. The development of norms for score translation based on T-score conversion unveiled that the scale had T-score in the range of T7.96 T77.71, T50 was 72% of test scores.