Guidelines for identifying and revising culturally biased multiple-choice nursing examination items
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026

Using Learning Outcome Measures to assess Doctoral Nursing Education
Published on: June 21, 2010
1College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Nikole.Hicks@uc.edu
Abstract:
To increase the diversity of the RN workforce, programs of nursing need to recruit, retain, and graduate a multicultural student body. One reason attributed to high attrition rates for minority students is bias in nursing examinations. Ensuring that nursing assessments are valid and reliable measures of student learning will improve outcomes for diverse students. The author explores the issue of bias in multiple-choice nursing examinations. Bias is defined, and its prevalence in nursing examinations is discussed. Guidelines are provided to assist evaluating and revising test items that are fair for students of all cultural groups.
Related Concept Videos
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
Nursing Evaluation
Section...
Patient-centered Care
Nursing Interventions II: Selecting and Classifying the Nursing Interventions
Critical Thinking II
Critical Thinking I
