Outcomes of a Global Health Nursing Course: Does the End Justify the Means?

Purpose: Due to nursing programs being increasingly burdened with additional education expectations, study abroad may seem like an inordinate extravagance. In order to increase sustainability of study abroad courses in nursing, the benefits of such experiences need to be proven and justified. The purpose of the following studies are to exhibit the positive effects of a Global Health Nursing Course including study abroad. The studies we have completed include: long-term effects of study abroad on the career of the graduate and cultural competence attainment of the undergraduate student.

Background: For over 10 years our College of Nursing has offered study abroad experiences in a Global health course. We typically have close to 100 students travel abroad for 3-5 weeks every year. There are many challenges and successes in offering this type of course.

Methods: The “Long term effect of Study Abroad in Nursing” research included 121 nursing alumni who had graduated up to seven years ago. They completed the International Education Survey (IES) (Zorn, 1996) with additional open-ended questions. The “Cultural Competency” studies include the use of three quantitative tools to measure student cultural competency over the past few years (Braskamp, Braskamp, Merrill, 2010; Caffrey, 2004; Camphina-Bacote, 2002). Over 450 pre-/post-test surveys have been returned. In addition, other methods to determine cultural competency included student’s reflective writing papers.

Results: Results of the various studies will be shared in the presentation. The “Long term effect of Study Abroad in Nursing” study showed a large statistical significance on the nurse’s career from studying abroad. Quantitative and qualitative results concluded: 1) nursing alumni were positively influenced long term by the course and 2) comparatively, students who studied abroad had significantly increased IES scores.

Results from studies measuring cultural competence were also statistically significant. Studies indicate that all students, no matter where they completed their clinical experience, improved in their global perspective skills, knowledge and attitudes.

Conclusion: The information gleaned from the studies help justify the purpose of continuing the Global health Course with study abroad courses in nursing. In addition, the information has been used for quality improvement to determine what experiences and teaching techniques best assist students to increase their cultural and global health perspectives. With the amount of student dollars and resources invested in this program, it is critical we provide deliverable data of the impact of the course on their education.