Abstract
AimThe purpose of this study was to gain understanding of Norwegian students' practical experience of “culture sensitivity.”DesignUsing focus‐group interviews and individual written assignments, we draw on a Foucauldian‐inspired approach to analyse nursing students' narratives about their clinical placement in Nicaragua.MethodSeven third‐year bachelor nursing students enrolled in a clinical placement programme on the Caribbean coast in Nicaragua and participated in focus‐group interviews. Interviews were conducted prior to their departure to Nicaragua and after their return to Norway. Other sources of data included learning objectives for clinical placement, written individual assignments with students' reflections about their experiences and achievement of learning objectives.ResultsStudents expressed gradually increased awareness about the nursing discourses and power relations shaping clinical encounters throughout their learning trajectory in clinical placement. They became more aware of the politics of nursing practices through their experiences of clashes between different nursing discourses.
Highlights
In the wake of globalization and a focus on global health, international clinical placement experience in low-and middle-income countries has become a popular strategy to enhance culture sensitivity and cultural competence among nursing students
“Cultural awareness” and “cultural competence” are widely recognized as an essential component for nursing students in contemporary multicultural societies to tackle various challenges due to cultural difference encountered in the clinic (Alpers & Hanssen, 2014; Jørgensen & Hadders, 2015; Reid-Searl et al 2010; Maltby & Abrams, 2009; Tabi & Mukherjee, 2003)
Major themes were apprehension about conflicting nursing discourses, perceptions of culture sensitivity prior to departure, hierarchies, abuse and objectification in the clinic, communicative challenges in the clinic, increased awareness of different nursing discourses, culture sensitivity experienced in practice, socializing into a new nursing discourse, patients’ rights and professional practice and work environment
Summary
In the wake of globalization and a focus on global health, international clinical placement experience in low-and middle-income countries has become a popular strategy to enhance culture sensitivity and cultural competence among nursing students. Followers of a transcultural nursing approach advocate culture competence and invoke culture sensitivity in nursing. Culley (2006) underscores that among advocates of the transcultural nursing approach, there is often a lack of awareness of the political and social context embedded in “cultural” aspects in the clinic and a failure to theorize power relations. Culley advocates a revised version of the culture concept with a focus on social processes and the fluidity of ethnic identities (Culley, 2006). Thomas Foth presents an extension of this criticism and argues that the concept of care in
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