Sunday, 17 November 2019
In an accelerated bachelor of science in nursing (ABSN) program at a selective university, the majority of students are academically successful and progress on schedule to graduation. However, students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds represent a high proportion of those who struggle or fail (Doggrell & Schaffer, 2016). Nursing students from CALD backgrounds may struggle academically for several reasons. Researchers in this area cite the Cummins Model of Language Acquisition, which describes the difference between social language fluency and academic language mastery (Abriam-Yago, Yoder & Kataoka-Yahiro, 1999). CALD nursing students must learn academic language and culture, as well as the terminology and culture of the healthcare setting.
The program described in this poster was designed to provide increased support to CALD students. Program planning began with assessment, including collection and evaluation of student progression data, data identifying graduates offered additional support because they were deemed at risk for failure of the nursing licensure exam, and qualitative data gleaned from focus group discussions with CALD students. A literature search and consultation with International Student services at the university informed the identification of potential support services. Numerous support services already exist at the university, including formal English language support and faculty development.
Although CALD students comprised 15-25% of the ABSN student population, they made up anywhere from 40-100% of the students that decelerated their progression through the program. Student feedback in the focus groups identified areas of concern and potential intervention, including formal English language support, faculty and staff development, and student peer mentoring for support in learning language and culture.
An Advisory Committee was created, to include stakeholders from across the school of nursing, including Student Services staff, administration, faculty and CALD students. A program plan was developed using the Logic Model framework (Deardorff, 2005; W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2004). The proposed program included faculty and staff development, formal English language support, and a peer mentoring process. While some university support already exists for faculty and staff development and formal English language support, there was no peer mentoring program; therefore, this was chosen for initial implementation. Peer mentor training and recruitment was planned for the summer of 2019, with the intent of offering the program to incoming freshmen ABSN students in the fall of 2019.
The program described in this poster was designed to provide increased support to CALD students. Program planning began with assessment, including collection and evaluation of student progression data, data identifying graduates offered additional support because they were deemed at risk for failure of the nursing licensure exam, and qualitative data gleaned from focus group discussions with CALD students. A literature search and consultation with International Student services at the university informed the identification of potential support services. Numerous support services already exist at the university, including formal English language support and faculty development.
Although CALD students comprised 15-25% of the ABSN student population, they made up anywhere from 40-100% of the students that decelerated their progression through the program. Student feedback in the focus groups identified areas of concern and potential intervention, including formal English language support, faculty and staff development, and student peer mentoring for support in learning language and culture.
An Advisory Committee was created, to include stakeholders from across the school of nursing, including Student Services staff, administration, faculty and CALD students. A program plan was developed using the Logic Model framework (Deardorff, 2005; W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2004). The proposed program included faculty and staff development, formal English language support, and a peer mentoring process. While some university support already exists for faculty and staff development and formal English language support, there was no peer mentoring program; therefore, this was chosen for initial implementation. Peer mentor training and recruitment was planned for the summer of 2019, with the intent of offering the program to incoming freshmen ABSN students in the fall of 2019.