Sunday, 30 July 2017
Purpose:
- The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning nurse educators ascribe to their experiences using remediation for at-risk, pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students. According to the research literature on remediation, nurse educators require students to undertake some type of remediation intervention when they do not perform well academically (Corrigan-Magaldi et al., 2014; Evans & Harder, 2013). At-risk nursing students who do not receive needed academic assistance will not be successful in their nursing program or licensure exam (Lynn & Twigg, 2011). Unfortunately, remediation programs in nursing education are highly variable without evidence of what interventions work the best (Sosa & Sethares, 2015). Schnee (2014) discussed the positive impacts of remediation for academically challenged students in higher education and remediation’s role in increased persistence to degree completion. Nurse educators are responsible for incorporating remediation strategies into the curricula in order to prepare at-risk nursing students to practice in today’s complex healthcare settings (Lauer & Yoho, 2013). The current qualitative research study was conducted to report and analyze interview findings to understand the meaning of the experiences nurse faculty have when using remediation for at-risk pre-licensure baccalaureate students in the context of nursing education programs.
Methods:
- A basic qualitative methodology was used for the research study. According to Patton (2015), qualitative inquiry is conducted to understand how people engage in making meaning of their experiences. Six nurse educators from two undergraduate nursing programs in southern California volunteered to participate in this basic qualitative research study after meeting the inclusion criteria. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews of the participants that were conducted face-to-face or via Skype/phone. Nonprobability purposive sampling was the sampling procedure that was used. Data analysis followed the thematic and constant comparative method that was first developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967).
Results:
- The findings from this research study revealed the following four themes that emerged from the data analysis: (a) faculty as facilitators, (b) active, individualized learning strategies, (c) issues affecting student engagement, and (d) formal versus informal faculty mentoring. Adult learning or andragogy was the theoretical framework used for this study. Implications of the findings for practice provided insight into the remediation experiences of nurse educators that guide their remediation practices. Based on the findings of this study, the main implications for nurse educators are that remediation policies and strategies need to be incorporated into the overall curriculum of baccalaureate nursing programs.
Conclusion:
- Recommendations for further inquiry included increasing the number of participants from different geographical areas and using a mixed methods approach to gain further insight into the research topic. Research on remediation could also be expanded to include ethical considerations for nurse educators. A further recommendation for future research included exploring faculty mentoring experiences specifically for remediation.
The findings of this study suggest the need for an organized and comprehensive faculty development and curriculum plan for nurse educators to facilitate remediation strategies for at-risk, pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students.