Search

Holistic nursing practice requires an understanding of the constraints of poverty as one of the social determinants of health. Future nurses need to be change agents for social justice. A descriptive, qualitative study was conducted to explore students' experience of the Missouri Association for Community Action Poverty Simulation© (CAPS) and its impact on empathy and social justice awareness among a purposive sample of 56 sophomore baccalaureate nursing students at a public university in the Northeastern United States. Inductive thematic analysis was applied to data collected from a postparticipation reflection paper. Five themes emerged: (a) emotions, (b) personal history of poverty, (c) empathy, (d) rising advocacy, and (e) lessons learned. The results support that the CAPS simulation provides an experiential opportunity which impacts empathy and foundational attitudes to be a change agent for social justice. Recommendations include structured education about social determinants of health prior to the CAPS simulation, continued education throughout nursing curricula, and experiential opportunities to apply social justice skills before graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a time of heightened bigotry and racialized violence, it is critical for social workers to engage in anti-racism practice. What leads White individuals to embrace this framework is less explored in scholarship. This paper presents data from an exploratory narrative inquiry with 10 White helping professionals in the Northeastern US who adopted an overtly anti-racism approach in their work. Narrative is a "cultural tool" through which individuals make sense of themselves and circumstances within context (Dauite et al., 2015: 48). Narrative inquiry involves uncovering the stories embedded within the overt stories told. With focus on pivotal childhood experiences, the themes taken up in this paper include the influence of family of origin values about race, exposure to racial difference, and experiences leading to the adoption of anti-racism tenets. The themes emerged as participants reflected on the self-discovery of racialization; initial exposure to racial inequity; and the impetus for them to become active in efforts to counter White supremacy. The paper aims to add to research on the engagement of White individuals in anti-racism efforts, an essential task for US social work as a predominantly White profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to describe how prelicensure student nurses perceive academic support and their institutions' response during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis. The shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every aspect of higher education, including pre-licensure nursing students. Prelicensure nursing education is one of the most stressful programs in higher education. In a period of great uncertainty, it becomes essential to explore how prelicensure nursing students perceive academic support from their institutions. A qualitative descriptive design was employed for the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data obtained from 16 semi-structured interviews. Six themes resulted from the data: Disorganization leading to chaos; technology and technical challenges; stress and frustration; am I prepared to be a nurse?; not having money; mental health matters. This study validates the experiences of nursing students. Students' obstacles during the pandemic should be identified and mitigated to promote learning and academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study sought to expand our understanding of how early relationships characterized by intimate partner violence (IPV) influence college women's transition into emerging adulthood. We used a longitudinal qualitative design in which women (n = 13) with histories of IPV victimization participated in interviews twice a year beginning their first semester in college and ending in their final semester of college. Four primary themes were uncovered: making sense of the relationship, recognizing needs in the relationship, posttraumatic growth, and social cognitive maturity. The constitutive pattern across all four themes was resilience (i.e., positive adaptation during and after experiencing adversity). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study explored the experiences of Black nurse faculty employed in predominantly White schools of nursing. High attrition rates of this group were noted in previous literature. Understanding their experiences is important to increase nurse diversity. Design: Hermeneutic phenomenology was used to explore the experiences of 15 Black nurse faculty using interviews. Findings: Four themes were extracted as the following: cultural norms of the workplace, coping with improper assets, life as a “Lone Ranger,” and surviving the workplace environment. Discussion: The study provided insight to understand the meaning that Black faculty members give to their experiences working in predominantly White schools of nursing. Findings exemplify the need to improve culturally competent work environments and mentoring programs. Implications for Practice: Results suggest that better communication and proper respect from students, colleagues, and administrators are necessary. The limited research on this topic illustrates that Black nurse faculty remain under investigated; research is necessary to determine effective change strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present an explanation of the development of a situation-specific theory of men’s healing from maltreatment during childhood. Development of the theory was guided by Rogers’ science of unitary human beings (SUHB). The four multidimensional concepts of the theory are interpreted within the context of the SUHB from themes discovered from the findings of a hermeneutic phenomenological study of men who had been exposed to childhood maltreatment, including neglect and abuse. The concepts are: moving beyond suffering, desiring release from suffering, dwelling in suffering, and experiencing wellbeing. Moving beyond suffering is the process of healing from childhood maltreatment. Desiring release from suffering is the facilitator of men’s life experiences that speeds up the rate of evolution from moving beyond suffering to experiencing healing. Dwelling in suffering is the barrier in men’s life experiences that slows down the rate of evolution from moving beyond suffering to experiencing wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]