Abstract
Nurse educators are calling for the transformation of nursing education toward curricula that promote clinical reasoning through reflective practice and understanding of patient experiences in an effort to motivate students to become change agents. Study abroad programs can play an important role in this transformation through educating nurses in the delivery of culturally safe health care in a diverse world. Exposing nursing students to study abroad experiences that are guided by critical approaches such as a postcolonial feminist framework provides nursing students with opportunities to be immersed in the life and culture of people who have a completely different positioning and location while reflecting on the “us” versus “them” phenomenon that is pervasive in modern Western society and generates negative cultural comparisons. Attention to the design and implementation of such programs is important if nursing schools in the Western world are to uphold ethical standards, promote equality in relationships with host communities and avoid inadvertent exploitation and marginalization of vulnerable peoples. We present the development and implementation of a community health study abroad program for American nursing students in Malawi, Africa using a postcolonial feminist framework.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 82-89 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Transcultural Nursing |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Nurse educators are charged with transforming nursing education to better prepare future nurses to provide culturally safe nursing care to diverse peoples. Nursing study abroad programs can be designed to facilitate transformative educational experiences that expose students to people whose lives are fundamentally different from their own in a manner that acknowledges the social, political, and economic conditions constructing health. A postcolonial feminist perspective was an ideal lens through which to design and implement a study abroad course in a Third World country. Through this experience, students developed a deep understanding and appreciation for how communities in Malawi address their own health problems taking into account the cultural and social context of Malawian society. Students will carry the lessons learned through this life-changing immersive experience to their practice for years to come. We thank the Office of Partnerships and Programs and the Center for International Education at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for making this study abroad program a success and for their continued commitment to the exposure of our university students to valuable and life-changing international experiences. Our gratitude also goes to the 22 students who had the courage to step out of their comfort zone into a completely different reality; one that contributed to their professional development and hopefully will help guide them in the provision of culturally safe nursing care. We are grateful to these students for giving us permission to quote their words from their journals and use them for this article. We also express thanks to Dr. Karen Morin whose helpful comments led to the completion of this article. The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The write-up of this article was made possible because of funding for the first author from the University of Wisconsin Institute on Race and Ethnicity.
Keywords
- African
- community health
- cultural safety
- feminist theory
- international educational experiences
- Malawi
- nursing education
- postcolonial feminism
- study abroad
- transcultural health
