Additionally, a need exists to enhance diversity within the nursing profession. In 2011, the Institute of Medicine Report (IOM), The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health identified the importance of enhancing the diversity of the nursing profession to adequately care for and treat the United States population. The IOM (2011) emphasized the importance of beginning this initiative in higher education. This initiative, as well as others through the Bureau of Health Professions (Health Resources & Services Administration [HRSA], 2013), call for more ethnic and racial diversity as well as increasing the number of males within the nursing profession. The inclusion of the veteran population will assist in meeting these diversity needs. The purpose of the phenomenological research study conducted was to explore the lived experience of student veterans in baccalaureate degree nursing programs to further assist in identifying mechanisms to enhance student veteran retention and success.
Methods: This descriptive phenomenological research study sought to identify the lived experience of student veterans in baccalaureate degree nursing programs at institutions with HRSA grant funding and/or were identified as Military Friendly®. The researcher obtained a list of institutions that received the HRSA grant NEPQR: VBSN and Military Friendly® institutions and Military Friendly® institutions. Upon Institutional Review Board approval, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The study sample included 11 student veterans from five different baccalaureate nursing degree programs located in the eastern United States. The study participants were primarily male (90.9%) and between the ages of 27 and 42. A diverse racial background was noted as study participants identified as white, African American, and Pacific Islander. Each interview was transcribed verbatim and Colazzi's method (1978) was used for data analysis. Upon completion of data analysis, study participants were contacted to verify the research findings.
Results: The resultant themes included acclimating to the college culture, shift in the thinking paradigm, using resources to facilitate progress, reestablishing a sense of community, expression of leadership attributes, and determined to succeed.
Conclusion: Further research is needed regarding the student veteran population. While this is the case, the results of this research can assist in identifying teaching-learning strategies, funding opportunities, and mechanisms for instituting policy change to enhance student veteran retention and success.