Abigail Harris, Brigham Young University
Health
Purpose:
The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of international student collaboration activities between Brigham Young University (BYU) and Russian nursing students in comparing and contrasting cultures, healthcare systems, and nursing practice.
Research Question/ Hypothesis:
What is the student’s perception of international collaboration experiences? Was the prepatory contact effective at enhancing the international collaboration experience?
Methodology:
Setting- BYU, Provo, Utah and Nursing School #1, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Sample-9 BYU and 9 Russian nursing students As part of the global health course students from BYU were paired with students from Nursing School #1 to collaborate on a health care topic to be jointly presented, while in Russia.
Instruments-17-item paper questionnaire
Procedures-IRB and Russian nursing school approval obtained. All participating students completed consent prior to survey administration.
Data Analysis-Responses entered into Qualtrics for descriptive quantitative analysis. Qualitative data was analyzed for themes.
Findings-Students believed that working with a foreign peer increased their understanding of health care issues in another culture, increased their communication skills, and increased their self- confidence. Implications for Nursing-Intercultural learning experience allows students from both schools to grow in the areas of understanding other cultures and nursing practices, communication, and self-confidence. Facilitating the interactions between nursing students from different cultures, allows them to be better prepared to serve and care for patients with differing cultures once they are working as a nurse.
Conclusion:
Global experiences and exposure assists nursing students to become more culturally competent, as well as increases their overall communication abilities and self-confidence. This preliminary study had positive student outcomes, which is a good indicator that this type of global interchange experience between student nurses should be replicated and studied in other countries.