Personal Growth Attributed by Nursing Students to a Diversity Class

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Diversity Training
• Cultural Competency in Healthcare

Background:

• Many nursing programs incorporate diversity training to improve cultural understanding in healthcare.
• However, the measurable outcomes of such diversity initiatives remain largely unknown.
• A lack of consensus on definitions and measurement tools hinders outcome assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate personal growth self-perceptions among graduate nursing students.
• To attribute this personal growth to an eight-week diversity course.
• To provide a framework for measuring student attributions of growth in nursing education.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 41 graduate nursing students participated in the study.
• An eight-week diversity course was implemented.
• Self-perceptions of personal growth were measured as an outcome.

Main Results:

• Participants reported modest levels of personal growth.
• The study provides preliminary data on the impact of diversity training on student self-perceptions.
• The findings suggest a positive, albeit modest, influence of the diversity course.

Conclusions:

• Educators can utilize the developed instrument and methodology to assess student growth.
• This approach can be adapted to measure attributions of personal growth to various components of nursing education.
• Further research is needed to validate these findings and explore broader impacts of diversity training.