Student Learning on Diversity, Health Disparities, Social Justice in an ABSN Program
The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze how well students in an accelerated baccalaureate nursing program (ABSN) integrated learning about diversity, health disparities and social justice.
Rationale/Conceptual Basis/Background:
The investigators wanted to determine if teaching about diversity, health disparities and social justice was reflected in evidence of actual student learning of this content. Additionally, The University has a robust co-curricular program to support the development of students’ knowledge about these issues.
Methods: The investigators conducted a content analysis of evidence of student learning within the ABSN program. Faculty members were asked to upload samples of excellence in student learning to our Curriculum Mapping Initiative (CMI) program. Faculty were not specifically asked for evidence that depicts learning on diversity, health disparities and social justice. CMI is an electronic assessment tool designed to create visual maps showing alignment of curricular concepts and learning outcomes. The authors reviewed all the evidence uploaded in CMI by ABSN faculty. Each example of student learning was evaluated using two types of inclusion criteria: explicit evidence which specifically addressed issues of diversity, health disparities and social justice as the topic of the assignment; implicit evidence which included references, photos or other indicators related to these concepts. A rating form was developed for this analysis. The raters were two nurse faculty and one expert in teaching, learning and assessment who was not a nurse. Ratings were done independently, and consensus and subsequent changes in rating occurred in a face to face meeting.
Results: The raters agreed with ratings on 15 of 27 items (56%). After discussion, 12 items (44%) were changed to reach consensus on the ratings. The ratings revealed that 19 items (70%) of 27 pieces of student work contained either explicit or implicit evidence of student learning about these crucial concepts. Eight (30%) of the items did not address these concepts.
Implications/Recommendations: Accurate measurement of student learning is necessary to determine the effectiveness of teaching about diversity, health disparities and social justice. It is recommended that further investigation include the development of a rubric to more clearly define the concepts of interest, to determine the depth of student learning, and to allow comparison between actual course assignments and evidence of student learning about diversity, health disparities and social justice.