Abstract
Canadian nurses have a social mandate to address health inequities for the populations they serve, as well as to speak out on professional and broader social issues. Although Canadian nursing education supports the role of nurses as advocates for social justice and leadership for health care reform, little is known about how nurse educators understand activism and how this translates in the classroom. A comparative life history study using purposeful sampling and a critical feminist lens was undertaken to explore political activism in nursing and how nurse educators foster political practice among their students. Findings from interviews and focus groups with 26 Ontario nurse educators and nursing students suggested that neoliberal dynamics in both the practice setting and in higher education have constrained nurses’ activist practice and favour a technical rational approach to nursing education. Implications and strategies to inspire political action in nursing education are discussed.
Funding statement: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, (Grant /Award Number: ‘410-2010-2555’)
References
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Articles in the same Issue
- Crazy Making: The Institutional Relations of Undergraduate Nursing in the Reproduction of Biomedical Psychiatry
- The Transition from Military Nurse to Nurse Faculty: A Descriptive Study
- Effects of Classical Background Music on Stress, Anxiety, and Knowledge of Filipino Baccalaureate Nursing Students
- Integrating Evidence-Based Practice into a Lebanese Nursing Baccalaureate Program: Challenges and Successes
- Transforming Nursing Education: Fostering Student Development towards Self-Authorship
- Making it Work – A BSN Faculty’s Process of Curriculum Redesign
- Online Teaching Efficacy: A Product of Professional Development and Ongoing Support
- Perspectives from Academic Leaders of the Nursing Faculty Shortage in Canada
- Nursing Students’ and Faculty Members’ Experiences of Comfort during Transition to Context-Based Learning
- Contested Practice: Political Activism in Nursing and Implications for Nursing Education
- Argumentation: A Methodology to Facilitate Critical Thinking
- The Relationship Between Levels of Fidelity in Simulation, Traditional Clinical Experiences and Objectives
- Strengthening Distance Nursing Laboratory Courses Through Application of Theoretical Foundations: A Literature Review
- An Integrative Review on Standardized Exams as a Predictive Admission Criterion for RN Programs
- Student-Directed Video Validation of Psychomotor Skills Performance: A Strategy to Facilitate Deliberate Practice, Peer Review, and Team Skill Sets
- Virtual Mentoring Program within an Online Doctoral Nursing Education Program: A Phenomenological Study
- Nurse-Environment Interactions in the Development of Cultural Competence
- The Applicability of the NCLEX-RN to the Canadian Testing Population: A Review of Regulatory Body Evidence