Minority and Non-Minority Licensed Practical

¶ … Minority and Non-Minority Licensed Practical Nurses in a Two-Year Associate Degree Registered Nursing Program

Issues dealt with (discussion of the literature)

The purpose of this study was to determine what factors contributed to the success of minority and non-minority nursing students attending a 2-year LPN to RN nursing program. The primary goal was to determine if the students' minority status created barriers for their success in the program that non-minority students did not experience. However, other factors were also taken into consideration as variables that might create barriers. These were: emotional status, peer relationships, preparation for the RN program, student/teacher relationships and attitudes of co-workers. It was important to the researcher to manage these variables within the context of the study so that any outcomes relating to racial barriers that might have occurred could be directly attributed to race and not to any of these other possible influences.

Literature Review / Methodology Adopted in Data Collection

This was phenomenological study, meaning that it consisted of only a small group of participants and sought deep exploration of each participant through personal interviews. There were a total of 9 participants, all of whom were attending a 2-year LPN to RN nursing program at the time of the study. All of the participants had earned their LPN previously and were returning to school to earn their RN degree. All of the participants attended the same college, in which approximately 6,000 students were enrolled. The participants consisted of 5 minority females (4 black, 1 Hispanic) 1 minority male (black), 1 non-minority male and 2 non-minority females.

The researcher selected "interview protocol themes" related to the five research questions developed, each of which addressed the potential barriers that might impede success in the program. These themes were then formulated into a series of open-ended questions to be asked in the in-depth interviews. The interviews were recorded and later transcribed and analyzed by the researcher, who used the data to identify patterns in the respondents' answers.

These findings were then compared to the result of an extensive literature review conducted by the researcher, in order to determine if the primary data corresponded with the secondary data. The literature review covered topics related to ethnic diversity in nursing, gender issues in nursing, student retention and online classes.

Analysis and Conclusion Drawn

The researcher did not find any indications that ethnicity/race contributed to barriers to success in the program. The variations in levels of success of the students that the researcher did find were far more likely to be related to the other variables (i.e. emotional status, peer relationships, preparation for the RN program, student/teacher relationships and attitudes of co-workers.). In fact the researcher found that all of the students were able to integrate well into the program as well as the social setting of the school, regardless of their minority status.

Those students who did struggle blamed their problems on a lack of emotional support, time management problems other non-race related variables. In addition, both minority and non-minority students experienced feelings of jealousy from their co-workers who were envious of the fact that the student was advancing his or her career. There were also some difficulties found relating to the nursing skills lab, and certain writing assignments, however these did not appear to be racially influenced either.

Implications for Practice

This study demonstrated that racial barriers are being broken down to the point that student success or failure does not necessarily have to be equated with issues of ethnicity. There are numerous barriers to success in an educational program which could be interpreted as race related if that were the researcher's agenda. However, seen at face value, the primary concerns are with the student's own personal struggles, whether they are a minority or not.