Navigating the Academic Accommodation Process

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the process by which nursing faculty make reasonable academic accommodations for students with learning disabilities in the classroom setting. Historically, nursing education has excluded students with disabilities. This exclusion has affected the professions’ clarity, knowledge, and expertise regarding the process of reasonable academic accommodations. This deficiency is especially apparent regarding learning disabilities, the most prevalent disability identified in nursing students (Ardary, 2014; Dong & Lucas, 2016; Levey, 2014; May, 2014; Meloy & Gambescia, 2014). While students with learning disabilities are increasing in nursing education, supportive and successful environments are not. Nursing students with identified learning disabilities require academic accommodations to facilitate their success. The process of reasonable academic accommodations for nursing students with learning disabilities has not been examined within nursing education literature. Clarification is necessary regarding this process to promote student success and inclusive learning environments within nursing education.

Methods: Constructivist grounded theory, as described by Charmaz (2014), guided the development of a theoretical framework for the process by which reasonable academic accommodations are implemented (Charmaz, 2014). Constructivist grounded theory guides the construction of theories or theoretical frameworks where the researcher and participants are inevitability linked within their environments (Charmaz, 2014). The developed theoretical framework is inevitably linked to the social setting of the participants to assist with understanding the meaning within the phenomenon under study (Charmaz, 2014).

Results: Data analysis uncovered the emergent categories, with linkages between the categories, to understand the process by which nursing faculty make reasonable academic accommodations for pre-licensure nursing students with learning disabilities in the classroom setting. The emergent categories included Nursing Faculty Role with Academic Accommodations, Planning with Academic Accommodations, and Execution of Academic Accommodations

Conclusions: Grounded theory provided a framework to investigate the process by which nursing faculty make reasonable academic accommodations for pre-licensure nursing students with learning disabilities in the classroom setting. The theoretical framework provided by the researcher is open to future growth, modification, and later theory development. Further research is necessary regarding each category of the process, faculty development regarding academic accommodations, and pedagogy to support nursing students with identified learning disabilities.