Motivating and deterring factors that influence Canadian student nurses’ decisions to study abroad

Joint Event on 49^th World Congress on Advanced Nursing Research & 27^th International Conference on Clinical Pediatrics

June 10-11, 2019 Berlin, Germany

Renate Gibbs

Camosun College, Canada

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Study abroad opportunities in many Canadian Nursing programs have become increasingly popular in the past decade. Schools of nursing are tasked with making nursing education culturally relevant in a global society and student learning can be enhanced with this expanded curriculum focus in addressing global health content, cultural competence in a variety of overseas placements. Camosun Collegeâ??s Nursing Program (Victoria, BC, Canada) has offered international Study Abroad experiences for students in the Baccalaureate of Nursing Program since 2004. Study abroad opportunities offer an experiential learning opportunity to expand a studentâ??s personal and professional development. International placements have included both developed and developing countries and require adequate numbers of student participants to support these optional programs. Students frequently demonstrate strong interest in study abroad programs as nursing programs develop their links with international settings, however a variety of factors may deter the studentâ??s participation from this optional experience. In order to build on the capacity with individual study abroad programs an exploratory study was conducted in 2016 with nursing students and involved an interpretive descriptive research study. This multi-faceted study sought to address four study objectives with nursing students (n = 21) participating in two programs; New Zealand and in the Philippines. A combination of data collection techniques included pre and post study abroad focus groups (n = 4), critical reflections (n = 24), a fluid survey (n = 12) and a structured questionnaire (n = 60). Rich data emerged to address the issues and factors that influence Canadian nursing studentâ??s motivation and challenges as they considered study abroad opportunities. It is anticipated that the presentation of these research findings, coupled with recommendations for best practice to consider study abroad programsâ?? motivating and deterring factors which can influence studentsâ?? decisions to participate will help inform the discussion on the merits and challenges of Study Abroad programs.

Biography :

Renate Gibbs, RN, BSN, MA, DTN has served as a faculty member of the Nursing Program at Camosun College. Since 2004, she participated in International Study Abroad programs and has maintained an interest to develop student’s learning experiences and their cultural competence in locations such as Tonga, India, the Philippines and New Zealand. Professor Gibbs has been recognized for excellence in education in a Baccalaureate Nursing Program, she has served for 29 years as an educator and in leadership roles such as Curriculum Chair and Program Leader as well as in research projects. Her work in research reflects her interest in hermeneutic studies and interpretive description research and with her colleagues she has contributed to conference presentations as well as publishing their findings.

E-mail: rgibbs@camosun.bc.ca