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African American Nurses Describe Experiences of Mistrust and Trust While in Nursing School
Barbara J White1, Nicole M Mentag, Beverly R Kaunda
1About the Authors Barbara White, PhD, RN, CPN, is an assistant professor, Indiana University School of Nursing, South Bend, Indiana. Nicole M. Mentag, MSN, RN, is a PhD student, Nova Southeastern University School of Nursing, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Beverly R. Kaunda, BSN, RN, is a staff nurse at St. Joseph Health System, Mishawaka, Indiana. The authors thank Gwendolyn Craven, MSN, RN, who first noticed the themes discussed in this article when assisting with the original analysis of the data, and Jomo W. Mutegi, PhD, for his review of the manuscript. For more information, contact Dr. White at whitebj@iusb.edu.
Aim:
This qualitative descriptive study is a secondary analysis of previously collected data to describe the consequences of the racial experiences of nursing school for African American students.
Background:
African Americans' health outcomes are negatively influenced by racism and historic oppression. A racially integrated health care workforce can improve health outcomes, yet nursing does not attract or retain an adequate number of African American students.
Method:
The sample for this qualitative descriptive study included 14 African American nurses who reflected on their nursing school experiences.
Results:
Two key paradoxical themes across the transcripts were mistrust and trust of European American faculty members.
Conclusion:
While working to build trusting relationships with African American students, forge relationships over time, and serve as mentors, faculty members need to understand the impact of societal stereotypes and mistrustful behaviors (e.g., stereotyping, saying one thing and doing another, using a double standard).
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