Attitudes of Polish nurses in the example of Lesser Poland Voivodeship towards representatives of Roma society

Introduction
The Roma are a minority around which many stereotypes and prejudices have accumulated in Poland. Negative attitudes, reluctance, and prejudices of medical staff can lead to limitations in the provision of high-quality medical care, as well as higher rates of disease and mortality among members of this ethnic group. Aim of the research: To evaluate the attitudes of Polish nurses towards representatives of the Roma community.

Material and methods
Cross-sectional study, carried out by means of a diagnostic survey and an estimation method. The selection of the study group was deliberate. The research used research tools such as the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), the Social Approbation Questionnaire, and the authors’ questionnaire. The research was carried out in 2018 among 1271 professionally active nurses.

Results
The respondents declared the greatest distance towards the Roma in the Intimate distance subscale, and the smallest in the Biological distance subscale. A significant dependence of the level of social distance of the respondents on place of residence, education, income, frequency of contact, care for a Roma person, participation in religious practices, a sense of faith, and training in transcultural nursing was observed. All SDO subscales correlated significantly and negatively with the Bogardus scale.

Conclusions
The results of the research indicate the need to train nurses in the field of transcultural nursing.