MINORITY UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENT SUCCESS

Minority providers are more likely to practice in underserved areas with minority populations. Currently the representation of minorities in healthcare professions is less than that of the United States population. More research is needed to examine specific variables associated with educational success of minority students.

The purpose of this study is to examine, and increase the understanding of, current factors that influence success among ethnic and minority nursing students.

The revised Minority Student Nurse Questionnaire (MSNQ) was utilized for this study with a sample of 31 students from 2 entry-level nursing programs in the Midwest.

Minority students were slightly older than traditional college students and consisted of African-American Black, Native (American) Indian, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, and Hawaiian. Students reported multiple factors that influenced their higher education experience. Academic services and cultural organizations were available, free, but were used by less than half of the students. Several sources of financial assistance are important, including scholarships, federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans, and grants. Students most strongly disagreed with the statement that 'the number of minorities in this program is representative of the number of minorities overall.' Students felt that several services were supportive and helpful strategies for success.

Although progress has been made to improve success of minority students, numbers continue to lag between demographic population overall.