| The existing research on Hispanic students in nursing is limited and focuses predominantly on barriers to student academic success. Students who achieved the bachelor's degree offer a perspective that is different from those found in most research. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to apply Harper's (2010) anti-deficit framework to Hispanic Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) majors who have graduated. Harper's framework was used to generate positive interviewing questions in order to identify and understand factors that have contributed to their success. The research question "How do recently graduated Hispanic students describe the experiences that contributed to their success in a predominantly multicultural baccalaureate nursing program?" was designed to identify approaches to determine what might influence recruitment, retention, and graduation of Hispanic Nursing Students (HNS). The sample included 13 participants, fluent in the English language: 1) whose ages ranged between 18 and 45 years, 2) who were United States citizens and had graduated from nursing programs located in Florida from a predominantly Hispanic or multicultural geographic environments, 3) and, who earned their Registered Nurse (RN) license to practice as a professional by passing the National Council licensure Examination-RN (NCLEX-RN) within the past year. Organization of interview data led to themes that were consistent with the micro-level domains from Purnell's model of cultural competence (Purnell, 2003, 2005, 2008). Participants described external and internal motivators that contributed to BSN completion. Internal motivators included being goal-oriented, self-directed, and knowledge seeking. Traits participants experienced were increased self-esteem, self-worth, and task orientation. External motivators included positive reinforcement from social supporters such as family, friends, significant others, role models and the community at large including institutional support from staff, mentors, and faculty. Recommendations are suggested for both educational practice and future research. |
