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Racism and Nursing Leadership in Massachusetts: A Mixed-Methods Study
Gaurdia Banister1, Allyssa Harris, Patricia Masson
1Author Affiliations: Executive Director (Dr Banister), Institute for Patient Care & Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Dean (Dr Harris), Prairie View School of Nursing, A&M University, Prairie View, Texas; Nursing Research Scientist (Dr Masson), Massachusetts General Hospital; and Nursing Director (Dr Raymond), Jamaica Plain Health Center, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Nursing Research Scientist (Dr Dzurec), Hartford HealthCare, Connecticut; Executive Director (Dr Daniello), ANA Massachusetts, Milton; and Massachusetts General Hospital (Yactayo); and Senior Biostatistician (Horick) and Biostatistician (Huang), Mass General Brigham Research Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
Background:
Nursing in the United States has evolved within the same historical context that has reproduced and spread racism worldwide. Nurse administrators are integral to the quality of nurses' practice and play a key role in eliminating racial injustice in places of work.
Purpose:
Using a feminist and critical race feminist framework, this study examined Massachusetts nurses' experiences of racism in their places of work, focusing on nurse administrators' influence on the nonadministrator (staff nurse) experience of racism experiences before and after George Floyd's death.
Methods:
An investigator-developed, electronic survey was sent to Massachusetts professional nursing organizations for distribution to their members in 2021. Two hundred nineteen nurse respondents completed Likert-scale and open-ended branching logic survey questions to yield the quantitative and qualitative data analyzed for this mixed-methods study.
Findings:
Nurse administrators were: 1) more likely than staff nurses to state that policies and meetings to address racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion had taken place before and after George Floyd's murder; and 2) less likely than staff nurses to directly experience racism at the hands of a colleague or a superior. Nurse administrators influence staff nurses' experiences of racism.
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