Nursing and health sciences workforce diversity research using PhotoVoice: a college and high school student participatory project

Culturally Safe Mentoring for American Indian Nursing Students

Being the least-represented ethnic/racial group in college settings, American Indian students may experience loneliness and self-doubt related to the challenges of adapting to an environment that embodies values, norms, and culture so different from those represented in their traditional culture. Ongoing health disparities and psychosocial inequities, and persisting impacts of historical colonization, have led to additional hardships for these students that further complicate their academic experiences. Fostering culturally safe learning environments where compassionate and caring faculty provide culturally aligned teaching is important in addressing these complex disparities. Derived from American Indian values and teachings, we present a culturally safe intergenerational mentoring approach that emphasizes the nursing mentors' responsibility to support the growth and success of American Indian nursing students. This approach, drawn from the wisdom of American Indian teachings, focuses on students' strengths and culturally based protective factors. Culturally informed faculty who are aware of the historical impacts of colonization and who have adequate mentoring capacity (time, interest, and commitment) contribute to safe and effective learning environments. Culturally safe mentoring is one approach to promoting American Indian students' potential for academic and professional success.

Preparing health professional students for interprofessional practice related to neurodevelopmental disabilities: a pilot program

Many health professional students have insufficient general knowledge about individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Students lack the expertise required to work with this population and their families. Interprofessional practice education (IPE) programs, designed for working with individuals with specialized needs and their families, are needed to improve overall care provided. An IPE program related to neurodevelopmental disabilities for health professional students was implemented focusing on applied learning and community engagement to develop competencies for students related to neurodevelopmental disabilities at a state university in the U.S. The purpose of this research was to describe the development and implementation of an IPE program and to examine the effectiveness of the IPE program aimed at developing identified competencies and increase awareness related to care of individuals with ND for health professional students. The findings suggest the IPE program enhanced health professional students' perceived competencies to identify and provide culturally sensitive and family-centered care for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families. This experience also provided an opportunity for personal/professional growth and increased awareness of the unique needs of these individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families.

Participant photography for HRD: method, benefits, and ethics

Purpose

This paper aims to look at how participant photography can be used in human resource development (HRD) as a research method that is innovative and inclusive. In published work on traditional photo elicitation methods, the participant is shown previously prepared visual images to create knowledge. This can provoke an inaccurate depiction due to the images being previously prepared. Participant photography differs greatly from the traditional photo-elicitation method. In participant photography, the participant is provided with the opportunity to capture their own visual images of the surrounding environment, allowing for data to be captured through their own eyes. More notably, participants voice their own experiences after taking the photographs as a means for providing rich data for researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

Participant photography is an innovative qualitative research method where the research participant is encouraged to document their lived experiences through images taken by the participant. Additionally, the participants take part in individual interviews and group individual sessions to further explain the images.

Findings

The research findings can lead to deeper insight into the research topic and even accommodate potential issues related to literacy and language barriers. By introducing a new qualitative research method to HRD, the lived experiences can be documented and examined in a new, different and arguably more accurate way.

Research limitations/implications

Literature discussing participant photography in HRD is limited. Although this limitation puts constraints on this study, it creates an opportunity to further define how participant photography can be used in HRD. This method offers a means for HRD researchers and practitioners to focus on the voices of participants to improve organizations.

Practical implications

This study addresses how participant photography can be used in the field of HRD by describing the process of participant recruitment, implementation of the method, participant interviews, group discussion and analysis. Specifically, this study focused on the practical application, including the method’s strengths, potential weaknesses and ethical challenges.

Social implications

The method of participant photography has been commonly used in community-based studies, public health projects and medical research projects, yet in ever-changing HRD needs, there are many advantages for the field of HRD to implement this method.

Originality/value

Although the concept of participant photography is still in its infancy in HRD, this study explains how participant photography can be used for both researchers and practitioners to gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of topics related to HRD.

Characteristics of Qualitative Descriptive Studies: A Systematic Review

Qualitative description (QD) is a term that is widely used to describe qualitative studies of health care and nursing-related phenomena. However, limited discussions regarding QD are found in the existing literature. In this systematic review, we identified characteristics of methods and findings reported in research articles published in 2014 whose authors identified the work as QD. After searching and screening, data were extracted from the sample of 55 QD articles and examined to characterize research objectives, design justification, theoretical/philosophical frameworks, sampling and sample size, data collection and sources, data analysis, and presentation of findings. In this review, three primary findings were identified. First, although there were some inconsistencies, most articles included characteristics consistent with the limited available QD definitions and descriptions. Next, flexibility or variability of methods was common and effective for obtaining rich data and achieving understanding of a phenomenon. Finally, justification for how a QD approach was chosen and why it would be an appropriate fit for a particular study was limited in the sample and, therefore, in need of increased attention. Based on these findings, recommendations include encouragement to researchers to provide as many details as possible regarding the methods of their QD studies so that readers can determine whether the methods used were reasonable and effective in producing useful findings. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Measuring the Success of a Pipeline Program to Increase Nursing Workforce Diversity

The purpose of this study was to understand changes in knowledge and opinions of underserved American Indian and Hispanic high school students after attending a 2-week summer pipeline program using and testing a pre/postsurvey. The research aims were to (a) psychometrically analyze the survey to determine if scale items could be summed to create a total scale score or subscale scores; (b) assess change in scores pre/postprogram; and (c) examine the survey to make suggestions for modifications and further testing to develop a valid tool to measure changes in student perceptions about going to college and nursing as a result of pipeline programs. Psychometric analysis indicated poor model fit for a 1-factor model for the total scale and majority of subscales. Nonparametric tests indicated statistically significant increases in 13 items and decreases in 2 items. Therefore, while total scores or subscale scores cannot be used to assess changes in perceptions from pre- to postprogram, the survey can be used to examine changes over time in each item. Student did not have an accurate view of nursing and college and underestimated support needed to attend college. However students realized that nursing was a profession with autonomy, respect, and honor.