California's Minority Majority and the White Face of Nursing

Promoting diversity through exploring and addressing "achievement/opportunity gap" in nursing education: A call to action

Promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in nursing education is a contemporary issue. The purpose of this paper is to iterate a call to action for exploring and addressing achievement/opportunity gap in nursing education and propose strategies to address this gap in order to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in educational institutions. Achievement/opportunity gap is an academic performance difference among students based on their socioeconomic status, age, race, ethnicity, and other demographic and sociocultural variables, and can lead to lack of career readiness among students. Four strategies are offered to address the achievement/opportunity gap in nursing education which includes a) explicit exploration of the gap to gather baseline information, b) taking an intersectional approach to examine differences in learning styles, beliefs, values, and learning needs of underrepresented and minority student populations, c) offering extensive co-designed preparatory programs to students who may be more prone to encounter this gap, and d) creating support communities for students to foster their academic performance.

Tailoring NCLEX-RN Indicator Assessments for Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Literature Review

A review of the literature was undertaken as the foundation for developing an assessment tool for Blacks/African Americans, other racial/ethnic minorities, and low-income students attending historically Black colleges and universities. Findings revealed a variety of academic and nonacademic indicators were used to evaluate likelihood of success. Course specific grades, grade point average (GPA), standardized comprehensive exams and standardized course specific exams were the most commonly used predictor variables that showed significant outcomes. Indicators more accurately predicted which students would pass NCLEX-RN rather than those who would fail. The type of pre-licensure program may influence best outcome indicators. Increased attention to and reporting of demographic information would increase the usefulness of findings in relation to developing a tailored assessment strategy for students enrolled in nursing programs at historically Black colleges and universities.

"I Can Never Be Too Comfortable": Race, Gender, and Emotion at the Hospital Bedside

In this article, we examine how race and gender shape nurses' emotion practice. Based on audio diaries collected from 48 nurses within two Midwestern hospital systems in the United States, we illustrate the disproportionate emotional labor that emerges among women nurses of color in the white institutional space of American health care. In this environment, women of color experience an emotional double shift as a result of negotiating patient, coworker, and supervisor interactions. In confronting racist encounters, nurses of color in our sample experience additional job-related stress, must perform disproportionate amounts of emotional labor, and experience depleted emotional resources that negatively influence patient care. Methodologically, the study extends prior research by using audio diaries collected from a racially diverse sample to capture emotion as a situationally emergent and complex feature of nursing practice. We also extend research on nursing by tracing both the sources and consequences of unequal emotion practices for nurse well-being and patient care.

Nursing as a Career Choice by Hispanic/Latino College Students: A Multi-Institutional Study

BACKGROUND

Despite rapid growth in the Hispanic/Latino population, there is significant underrepresentation of Hispanic/Latino individuals in the nursing workforce and nursing programs. This study investigated college students' interest in and self-efficacy for nursing as a career choice, and factors that students believe will impact their success in a nursing program.

METHOD

A nonexperimental, associational research study using a survey instrument was conducted at three comprehensive, public state universities and one community college in the western United States in an area with a significant Hispanic/Latino population.

RESULTS

Descriptive and multivariable correlation statistical analysis suggested that college students' interest in and self-efficacy for nursing as a career choice was similar for both Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic/Latino students in the sample. Perceived facilitators for success in a nursing program were identified.

CONCLUSION

Findings can be used to develop strategies and programs to enhance the success of Hispanic/Latino students interested in nursing as a career choice.

Inclusive mosaic: promoting diversity in nursing through youth mentorship

In this paper we describe the Inclusive Mosaic project, a community-university partnership in an outer-city community in a large Canadian metropolis aimed at promoting diversity in nursing. The project brought together nursing student mentors with middle school and high school youth from diverse backgrounds in a mentoring program aimed at increasing participants' interest in, and confidence in pursuing, higher education and a career in nursing or other health profession. The concepts of emancipatory education, self-efficacy, and possible selves provided the theoretical foundation. Project processes, activities, and outcomes are described, and a post-hoc evaluation encompassing the project's strengths, challenges, limitations, and successes is presented. Recommendations to inform future research and education are also provided.

Moving Toward Greater Diversity

Purpose: To report the results of a comprehensive review of interventions used by nursing programs to increase the success of underrepresented minority nursing students graduating from prelicensure programs. Design/Method: This review used the five stages of review methodology described but Whittemore and Knafl to extract data, summarize, and synthesize findings of 11 studies included in this review. Intervention strategies were organized using concepts of Jeffreys’s Nursing Undergraduate Retention and Success model. Findings: Interventions were designed to improve recruitment, retention, and academic performance through a variety of innovative activities. Conclusions: This review highlighted the necessity for future researchers to report in-depth and detailed information about the implementation of interventions. Comprehensive information about the program, faculty, setting, interventions, and challenges faced during implementation were often missing from these reports, making replication difficult.

Changing the face of nursing: reducing ethnic and racial disparities in health

This article reports on findings from a Nursing Diversity Workforce grant, BEST (Becoming Excellent Students in Transition to Nursing), designed to assist students from minority and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to become culturally competent registered nurses. A program of retention strategies that included peer and faculty tutoring, counseling, and financial support helped to remove barriers to success in nursing. All but 3 of the enrolled students either have graduated or are on track to doing so. Most graduates are practicing in the city where they are helping to reduce health disparities through their contributions to improved health care for vulnerable populations.

The diversity imperative: strategies to address a diverse nursing workforce

TOPIC

There has been a call to action for the need to create a more diverse nursing workforce.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this article is to outline and review strategies that schools of nursing education can use to increase the recruitment, retention, and success of a diverse nursing student body.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

A review of the nursing literature was performed using CINAHL and hand-searching references. Abstracts were reviewed and articles included if the topic of the article referred to strategies to increase the diversity of nursing students.

CONCLUSIONS

A variety of strategies are being used to address this issue. A multifaceted approach is recommended.

Diversity and the NCLEX-RN: a double-loop approach

The United States is increasingly ethnically diverse. To provide culturally congruent care to this changing population, nursing programs must attract and support ethnically diverse students through to successful completion of the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses. Critically examining the literature on this topic revealed three themes: need for a diverse nursing workforce, lack of formal evidence, and narratives of concern. A double-loop theoretical approach that encompasses interventions in elementary and secondary schools, traditional student support services, faculty development initiatives focused on cultural competence, formative and summative evaluations, quantitative and qualitative research, and evidence-based interventions is proposed to address this multifaceted concern.