Thesis Format
Monograph
Degree
Master of Science
Program
Nursing
Supervisor
Caxaj, Susana C
2nd Supervisor
Saleema Allana
Co-Supervisor
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Within clinical learning environments, a students’ sense of belonging has been identified as a pre-requisite for effective learning. Unfortunately, many aspects of nursing education act as barriers to belongingness among students with racially and ethnically minoritized identities. Although prejudice and discrimination represent barriers to belongingness, there is a paucity of literature exploring how racially and ethnically minoritized nursing students experience belonging during their clinical placements.
Aim: To explore how nursing students with racially and ethnically minoritized identities experience a sense of belonging during their clinical placements.
Research Design: The researcher followed an interpretive descriptive design informed by intersectional theoretical perspectives. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data.
Findings: The study identified five themes: (1) Belonging as a Determinant to Student Learning, Retention and Patient Safety; (2) Minoritized Identities on Display: Discrimination Threatening Clinical Belonging; (3) How Power Dynamics at the Interpersonal and Institutional Levels Silence Students from Addressing Discrimination in the Clinical Environment; (4) “We Take it Seriously”: How the Representation of Minoritized Identities Influences Students’ Sense of Belonging; and (5) How Nursing Students’ Identities Intersected to Influence their Experiences of Belonging During Clinical Placements.
Conclusion: Findings highlight the importance of dismantling discriminatory structures within nursing education and practice and of investing in strategies to improve student belonging. Strategies to improve belonging need to be comprehensive by targeting the numerous factors that influence belonging experiences. Ultimately, improving racially and ethnically minoritized students’ clinical placement sense of belonging has positive implications for student learning, patient safety, and for retaining a diverse nursing workforce.
Summary for Lay Audience
Summary for Lay Audience
To become effective nursing professionals, nursing students are often provided with learning opportunities within the hospital known as clinical placements. For nursing students to learn effectively during these clinical placements, it is important for them to feel like they belong within the hospital learning environment. Unfortunately, nursing students with racially or ethnically minoritized identities often experience discrimination during their clinical placements that negatively impacts their sense of belonging. Although discrimination can negatively impact nursing students’ sense of belonging during clinical placements, the experiences of racial and ethnic minoritized students have been overlooked in nursing studies on sense of belonging. Based on this research gap, the main purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how students who self-identify as a member of a racially or ethnically minoritized group experience a sense of belonging during their clinical placements. Throughout this study, the researcher spoke with nursing students who self-identify as a member of a racial or ethnic minoritized group to learn more about these students’ experiences of belonging within the clinical environment. The study considered how participants unique identities and power relationships impacted these experiences which uncovered five themes: (1) belonging is integral to patient safety, student learning, and student retention in higher education, (2) discrimination negatively influences sense of belonging, (3) institutional barriers and power dynamics hinder students from addressing and/or disclosing their experiences of discrimination, (4) the representation of other racially or ethnically minoritized individuals in the clinical space influences experiences of belonging, and (5) aspects of participants identities (i.e., race and gender) intersect to inform how participants experience belonging in the clinical setting. These findings speak to the importance of addressing discrimination within nursing education and practice and of investing in strategies to improve student belonging. Strategies to address barriers to student belonging need to be comprehensive in their approach by targeting the personal, interpersonal, community, organizational and policy level factors that contribute to their prevalence. Ultimately, improving racially and ethnically minoritized students’ sense of belonging during their clinical placements has positive implications for student learning, patient safety, and for retaining a diverse nursing workforce.
Recommended Citation
Gould, Connor J., "The Experiences of Clinical Placement Belonging Among Nursing Students with Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Identities: An Interpretive Descriptive Study" (2023). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 9385.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/9385
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