The experiences of international students in a Canadian faculty of nursing: A narrative inquiry study

Abstract

BackgroundIn response to the global need for nursing faculty, and nurses in leadership and advanced clinical practice roles, students from different countries come to Canada for their graduate nursing education. The positive reputation and the perceived advantages of the education system are particularly compelling to applicants from the countries located in the Global South. However, these students come from different social, historical, political, cultural, and educational backgrounds that deeply influence their learning experiences in Canada. Objective and methodologyThe aim of this narrative inquiry study was to understand the experiences of international graduate nursing students. The focus was to unravel two puzzles of this inquiry: What stories across social, historical, political, cultural, and educational borders shaped students' identities and ways of knowing? How did the experience in Canada impact their identities? Setting and participantsParticipants were invited from a Master of Nursing program at a research-intensive University in Western Canada. MethodsParticipants engaged in series of conversations over a period of one year. ResultsMultiplicity of borders and identity making, border making, and border crossing, were the threads that resonated across the narrative accounts. ConclusionThese narrative threads provided insights into the lived experiences of tensions, the shifting of identities, and the day-to-day challenges that international students face while learning in Canada. Being aware of these experiences and acknowledging them could be a significant stride towards addressing the issues of racism, inequity, and exclusion for international students within Canadian graduate nursing education.