Campus Climate and Intergroup Relations refers to the culture and climate environment within schools of nursing. Inclusive learning environments are characterized by meaningful interactions among persons and groups representing different traits, perceptions, and experiences. This is a prerequisite for excellence in nursing education. This dimension addresses the overall climate and group interactions across the learning environment. A growing body of research has linked students’ sense of belonging to important outcomes, such as academic success, persistence, and well-being. Climate and culture focus on the interactions among groups and the level of intercultural development. This section will suggest a process for conducting a climate survey and describe how to establish intergroup dialogue in schools of nursing.
Definition: The campus climate (climate within a school of nursing) is the current attitude, behaviors, belief systems of the faculty, students, staff, and academic leadership concerning the level of respect for the individual needs, abilities, and perceived potential, including the curriculum and the hidden curriculum (Zosel, 2018).
Climate assessment drives a process of continual, data-driven improvement and prompts meaningful changes in policy and practice within a school of nursing. Here are the steps:
There are several choices in approach and methodology.
In response to the national dialogue about race, racism, inclusion, and belonging in academic nursing, Dr. Vernell DeWitty, Chief Diversity Officer at AACN, led the development of a new survey instrument to capture the feelings and experiences of underrepresented minorities in nursing programs. The Learning Across Multidimensional Perspectives© (LAMP) culture and climate survey was developed to provide nursing schools with knowledge on how their learning environments are influencing faculty and students' experiences and outcomes.
For schools looking to conduct a climate survey using LAMP, the key steps in implementing this strategy are:
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Definition: A sense of belongingness refers to the human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. According to the Belonging theory described by Baumeister, two conditions to impart a sense of belonging include:
Students’ sense of ‘belongingness’ and their engagement in academic study have been identified as key contributors to student success. When examining sense of belonging in the classroom setting, two major players emerge: faculty and classmates. Faculty set the tone for student interactions and model respect and valuing (Gayle, Cortez, & Preiss, 2013; Wilson & Gore, 2013). The extant literature shows that students with high levels of belonging speak to having had positive experiences with faculty who exhibit a caring disposition, use active learning techniques, and create safe spaces for expression and debate.
Experiential learning within clinical practice settings is a substantial component of undergraduate nursing education. This study described baccalaureate nursing students’ perception of how their belongingness evolves in clinical learning environments through partnerships with their clinical educator and unit-based nurses.
The students’ described positioning for belongingness, persevering for belongingness, and ultimately, entering into belongingness. Belongingness was depicted as gaining entry into the nursing “atmosphere,” a privileged space unique to each clinical placement. In this space, students were granted access to rich learning and socialization opportunities in alliance with the unit-based nurses. For students unable to secure belongingness, learning within the clinical setting occurred as outsiders, exterior to the nursing atmosphere.
Students described belongingness as possible when their demonstrated competencies were validated by others who had the capacity to optimize their professional socialization and development within the clinical setting.
Reid, L. D., & Radhakrishnan, P. (2003). Race matters: The relation between race and general campus climate. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9(3), 263- 275. doi: 10.1037/1099-9809.9.3.263
In an early citation, Reid and Radhakrishnan’s General Campus Climate (GCC) scale measured perceptions of racial and academic climate in a racially diverse sample of graduate students in a university setting. Then researchers revised the GCC subscales from the existing item pool of questions for undergraduate students (alpha = .72). The first subscale measured instructors’ impact on the academic climate (alpha = .75) and the second subscale assessed students’ perceptions of whether instructors and peers viewed them as serious student (alpha = .75). The last subscale measured the students’ perceptions of social and intellectual respect (alpha = .68). African Americans had a more negative view of the general campus and racial and academic climates than did White students. Additional findings showed that academic and racial experiences were the best predictors of both groups’ perception of the GCC. This scale was also published in Race matters: The relation between race and general campus climate.
Tynes, B. M., Rose, C. A., & Markoe, S. (2013). Extending campus life to the Internet: Social Media. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 6(2), 102-114.
Tynes, Rose and Markoe’s survey examined online stress and the association of online and offline factors influencing racial discrimination in a convenience sample of 217 college students. Hierarchical regression modeling determined that African American students reported more online racial discrimination and online stress and held more negative views of campus racial climate than European American students. Time on social networking sites and discussions of school-related issues were not associated with these perceptions.
Paton, S. J. (2010). Exploring belongingness in nursing practice: A phenomenological study. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/openview/b3544a1dc56d1b8c0279da5205bc4b71/1?p q-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
Contextual factors and interpersonal dynamics were seen to have a significant bearing on students’ experiences. Clinical leaders/managers who were welcoming, accepting, and supportive, and nursing staff who were inclusive and encouraging, facilitated students’ perception of being valued and respected as members of the nursing team. Additionally, the provision of consistent, quality mentorship was identified as important to students’ feelings of connectedness and fit. The experience of belongingness, in turn, enhanced students’ potential for learning and influenced their future career decisions. Alternatively, alienation resulted from unreceptive and unwelcoming clinical environments and from the dissonance created when students’ personal and professional values did not articulate with those evident in practice environments. Consequently, distress, detachment, and disengagement occurred and students’ capacity and motivation for learning were negatively impacted.
Grobecker, P.A. (2016). A sense of belonging and perceived stress among baccalaureate nursing students in clinical placements, Nurse Education Today, 36, 178-183, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2015.09.015
Grobecker used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Belongingness Scale in Clinical Placement Experience (BES-CPE), and demographic questionnaire to examine the relationship between a sense of belonging and perceived stress in baccalaureate nursing students 18 or older who completed one clinical experience. The scale was administered online through SurveyMonkey®. Students were recruited from the National Student Nurses Association database. There was an inverse relationship between sense of belonging and perceived stress in nursing students (r = − .277). The BES-CPE is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring sense of belonging on students' learning, motivation and confidence in clinical placement, while perceived stress had negative consequences on the students' self-concept, learning skills and competence.
Definition: Intergroup dialogue (IGD) is defined as "a co-learning space among people from diverse backgrounds" (Nagada, 2017, p. 29) and is a method to engage in sociocultural conversations. The skills of dialogue include developing a critical awareness of social identities, understanding one’s own connections to power, privilege, and oppression, and developing interpersonal communication skills such as active listening, purposeful sending, and providing feedback. By creating a foundation of communication using IGD, organizations can consistently evaluate the climate.
Intergroup dialogue can impact the campus climate and build safe spaces for vulnerability and honesty that ultimately leads to supportive environments of acceptance and belonging. The IGD framework offers a structured inclusive method to connect and communicate through the following:
Create a Sense of Belonging and Connectedness Sense of belonging and connectedness exert a powerful influence on productivity as well as experiences of lack of inclusiveness in rapidly changing and complex healthcare systems worldwide. Sense of belonging is important in providing safe, effective, and culturally sensitive health care to diverse populations.
Definition: Courageous Conversations have been defined as utilizing agreements and conditions to engage, sustain, and deepen interracial dialogue about race in order to improve student success (Singleton, 2005, p. 26). Language and communication provide the foundation of our cultures and, through the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and perspectives, individuals can create shared values. Singleton offers conditions for guiding these conversations:
When nursing educators develop greater understanding and develop the capacity for engaging in courageous conversations, they will better enhance academic advancement for all students and increase equity in learning environments.
This section will provide strategies and tools for developing the human and institutional resources needed to fulfill the school of nursing's broader institutional mission as well as the nursing profession's mission related to DEI.
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