West, Roianne

Usher, Kim

Foster, Kim

Stewart, Lee

2014

An increase in the number of Indigenous health professionals is one way to help reduce the poor health outcomes of Australia's Indigenous people. However, while Indigenous students are enrolling in Australian tertiary undergraduate nursing courses in increasing numbers, their completion rates remain lower than non-Indigenous students and many barriers hinder course completion. This critical interpretive qualitative study explores academic staff perceptions of factors enabling successful course completions by Indigenous nursing students from universities in Queensland, Australia. Content analysis of data revealed five themes: (a) Individual student characteristics; (b) Institutional structures, systems, and processes; (c) Relationships, connections, and partnerships; (d) Family and community knowledge, awareness, and understanding; and (e) Academics' knowledge, awareness, and understanding. To increase the number of Indigenous nurses, strategies such as appointing Indigenous nursing academics; partnerships between nursing schools and Indigenous Education Support Units, and the implementation of tailored cross-cultural awareness programs for nurse academics are proposed.

The Qualitative Report, v.19, p. 1-19

2160-3715

1052-0147

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/17191

en

Nova Southeastern University

Academic Staff Perceptions of Factors Underlying Program Completion by Australian Indigenous Nursing Students

Journal Article

Publication