Workforce Diversity Interactions and Perceptions Among Nurses in a Tertiary Maternity Facility in Qatar: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed‐Methods Study

TL;DR

This study explores how nurses in a diverse maternity hospital in Qatar interact with a multicultural workforce and identifies factors influencing these interactions.

Contribution

The study provides insights into workforce diversity dynamics in Qatar's healthcare sector, a previously under-researched area.

Findings

Nurses rated highly across all domains of workforce diversity interaction.

Factors like age, nationality, and clinical experience influence interaction levels.

Barriers and facilitators to diversity interaction were identified.

Abstract

As the world becomes increasingly multicultural, the demand for a diverse nursing workforce rises to provide equitable and high‐quality patient care. However, limited research has been conducted on these dynamics within the multicultural healthcare landscape of the Gulf region, especially in Qatar. Therefore, examining Qatar’s multicultural workforce and the diversity interaction among nurses is essential to fill this research gap.

This study explored the experience of nurses and their level of interaction with a diverse workforce in a multicultural healthcare setting.

Sequential exploratory mixed‐methods research was conducted at a tertiary maternity facility in Doha, Qatar. In Phase I, a survey was performed with 735 nurses using the Workforce Diversity Questionnaire II, followed by focus group discussions with 10 nurses from April to June 2024.

The findings revealed that nurses rated highly across all domains of workforce diversity interaction. The level of interaction is influenced by age, nationality, clinical experience, diversity of patient interactions, and the length of residency in a diverse community. While there were key barriers, some factors facilitated workforce diversity interaction.

This study recommends the development of training programs that focus on essential competencies for nurses to enhance their performance in diverse work settings. Further investigations are also recommended to assess the impact of these competencies and training programs to patient outcomes and organizational performance.

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