Lived Experience of Indonesian Nursing Faculty Participating in a Curriculum Reform based on the 2009 WHO Global Standards for Initial Education for Professional Nurses

Edwards, Joan Elaine

Sunday, 17 November 2013: 3:05 PM

Joan Elaine Edwards, PhD
College of Nursing, Texas Woman's University, Houston, TX

Learning Objective 1: Explain a process that can facilitate a nursing curriculum revision in a developing country based on the 2009 World Health Organization Global Standards.

Learning Objective 2: Describe the lived experience of Indonesian nursing faculty participating in a curriculum reform based on the 2009 WHO Global Standards.

Purpose: In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) published global standards for initial nursing education with the intent these standards would be used to ensure globally competent and safe nursing care. In 2011, the government of Indonesia initiated a pilot study of seven schools representative of their nursing programs. The goal was to compare current curricula with WHO standards.

Methods: DESIGN: descriptive and interpretive phenomenological qualitative research study conducted with four Indonesian nursing programs to understand the lived experience of Indonesian nursing faculty participating in curriculum reform based on 2009 WHO global standards. Data were collected pre- curriculum revision and near-end revision from December 2011 through July 2012 using faculty focus groups at four schools. SAMPLE: purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews of 37 Indonesian nursing faculty in focus groups of 8 to 10 faculty. Participants received initial nursing education within Indonesia, were fluent in Indonesian, and were actively involved in the curriculum project. METHODOLOGY: van Manen’s descriptive and interpretive methodological approach. IRB approval was received.

Results: Four major themes were identified: (a) perceptions/feelings about curriculum revision, (b) past and current experience with curricula revision, (c) perceptions of the WHO curriculum revision process (benefits, obstacles and resources to facilitate), and (d) advice for the researcher facilitating the process and for WHO in relation to the 2009 WHO global standard document.

Conclusions: Ongoing communication with faculty before and during curriculum revision can yield valuable insight for project success. Although participants felt the revision process based on the 2009 WHO document was difficult and time consuming, there was strong agreement of benefits for the nursing profession and improved quality of care for Indonesians. All nations are urged to comply with the 2009 WHO global standards for initial nursing education. Faculty perspectives regarding resources to facilitate and obstacles to overcome can optimize project outcomes.

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