Study Identification Activity
Using the attached worksheet (Study Identification worksheet),
- Using the knowledge gained during your preparation and the flowchart at the bottom of the Worksheet, you will review the pdfs of the 10 studies linked below.
- Identify each study as follows by highlighting your choice on the document:
- Is it a primary study, a secondary study, or “other” (neither)?
- If a primary study, is it quantitative or qualitative? (If it is not a primary study, leave the last two columns blank.)
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Study Identification Worksheet
Study # |
Is it a primary research report, a secondary research report, or neither/other? |
If a primary research report, is it quantitative or qualitative? |
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1 |
Primary |
Secondary |
Other |
Quantitative |
Qualitative |
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10 |
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and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without
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email articles for individual use.
LaDonia D. Patterson, EdD, RN, CNE
African American Males as Registered Nursing
Students: A Scoping Review
Abstract: The purpose o f this scoping review was
to assess the nursing education literature regarding
African American male pre-licensure nursing students.
There is a lack o f diversity among registered nurses,
with African American males being one o f the most
underrepresented groups in the profession. As such,
understanding factors that hinder and facilitate their
entry into the profession is imperative. The author
searched the electronic databases CINAHL, ProQuest,
and ERIC using the search terms that included African
American, Black, male, nursing, and student. The
search generated two thousand eight hundred seventy-
eight titles. Seven studies were included in the scoping
review. Results from the scoping review revealed themes
that may influence retention and successful completion
o f pre-licensure nursing programs fo r African American
male students.
Key Words: African American, Black, male, nursing
student, retention
T
he lack of diversity among registered nurses
has garnered national attention, with clinicians,
educators, and scholars working to identify
ways to address this issue (American Association of
Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2015,2017; Institute
of Medicine [IOM] ,2011; National Advising Council
on Nurse Education, 2013; National League for
Nursing [NLN], 2016). Increasing diversity within the
healthcare workforce has been identified as one part of a
multifaceted approach to combatting the disparities that
lead to poor health outcomes among minority patients
in the U.S. (Kelly, 2015; Villarruel, Washington, Lecher,
& Carver, 2015; Williams et al., 2014). Although diversity
among nursing students (AACN, 2017) and graduates
from pre-licensure nursing programs (Campaign for
Action, 2019) has marginally improved, the racial, ethnic,
and gender composition of the registered nurse population
still does not reflect that of the patient populations it
serves. Lor example, although racial and ethnic minority
groups comprise 39% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2018), only 19% of registered nurses (RNs) in the
U.S. represent racial and ethnic minority groups (Smiley
et al., 2018). Similarly, men make up almost half of the
U.S. population (Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2018;
U.S. Census Bureau, 2018), yet men comprise less than
ten percent of the registered nurse population (Smiley et
al., 2018). African American men belong to one of the
most underrepresented groups in the nursing profession
(Smiley et al., 2018).
Scholars recognize that retaining students from
minority backgrounds in pre-licensure registered nursing
programs is essential to increasing diversity in the
registered nurse population (Bond, Cason, & Baxley,
2015; Dapremont, 2014; Kelly, 2015). As such, promoting
retention of African American male students in pre-
licensure registered nursing programs is one strategy
that can be used to positively affect the number of
African American male nurse graduates. To accomplish
this, however, nurse educators must be aware of the
circumstances that influence the retention of African
American male pre-licensure nursing students. The
purpose of this scoping review was to assess the nursing
education literature to determine what is known about
African American male pre-licensure nursing students.
The ABNF Journal 19 W inter 2020
Table 1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria f o r literature search
Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria
Primary qualitative or quantitative research
studies, including doctoral dissertations
A research study conducted in the U.S.
Written and published in English
Published in a peer-reviewed academic
journal
The study sample includes African American
male baccalaureate degree or associate
degree nursing students
Results specific to African American male
nursing students reported in study findings
Abstract available
Review articles; non-research studies
A research study conducted outside of the U.S.
Written and published in a language other than
English
Not peer-reviewed or published in an academic
journal
Research study sample only includes primary,
secondary education students or students in
vocational/practical or graduate/doctoral
nursing education programs
No study findings specific to African
American males reported
No available abstract
METHODOLOGY
The author performed a scoping review of the
literature in order to determine the state of knowledge
about African American male pre-licensure nursing
students. A scoping review, also called a scoping study,
is an approach to knowledge synthesis that is used to
identify and map essential concepts related to a specific
phenomenon (Arksey & O ’Malley, 2005; Whittemore,
Chao, Jang, Minges & Park, 2014). The focus of a
scoping review is to gather many primary evidence
sources to increase the breadth of knowledge related
to the phenomenon (Arksey & O ’Malley, 2005). For
example, scoping reviews differ from systematic reviews
in that scoping reviews include primary sources that
represent a variety of research designs. This enhances
what is known about the phenomenon by providing
insight into the types of methodologies that are being
used to research the phenomenon (Colquhoun et al..
2014). The scoping review was an appropriate approach
to knowledge synthesis for this particular inquiry
because it appeared that the body of literature related
to African American male nursing students would be
limited. Thus, reviewing a diverse body of research
studies allowed the author to glean as much insight as
possible from the literature available.
Search method
A literature search using the electronic reference
databases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied
Health Literature (CINAHL®), ProQuest Nursing and
Allied Health, Educational Resources Information Center
(ERIC), ProQuest Education, and Education Full Text
databases was conducted to ensure a comprehensive
review that included sources indexed in nursing, allied
health, and education databases. The search terms used to
identify relevant studies were: Black, African American,
minority, male, men, nursing student, and retention.
Abstracts with relevant titles were reviewed. Studies that
met the inclusion criteria for the scoping review were
retained (see Table 1).
The searches of the electronic databases yielded a total
of 3,990 titles that were reviewed: CINAHL® (« = 989),
ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health {n = 1,889), ERIC
(n = 297), ProQuest Education (n = 813), and Education
Full-Text (n = 2). Thirty-two abstracts were reviewed
for research studies with titles that met the inclusion
criteria. Ultimately, only six studies from these searches
were retained for the scoping review. An ancestry search
using the reference lists of these six research articles was
conducted. No additional studies were identified using
this approach. Prior to conducting the search for the
scoping review, one study had already been identified
The ABNF Journal 20 Winter 2020
through a traditional search of the higher education
literature. That study was also included in the scoping
review for a total of seven articles included in the review.
None of these 3,990 titles generated from the searches
were research studies that focused specifically on African
American male pre-licensure nursing students.
Study selection
To be selected for inclusion in the scoping review,
a research study had to meet the inclusion criteria.
Research studies included in the review were published
between 2010 and 2017, conducted in the U.S., written
and published in English in a peer-reviewed academic
journal or were doctoral dissertations, and had an abstract
available. Research studies were not limited to a specific
research design; however, the study had to include as
participants African American male students who were
either enrolled in a pre-licensure associate degree or
baccalaureate registered nurse program or had graduated
from an associate degree or baccalaureate degree pre-
licensure nursing program in the United States. Research
studies also needed to report study findings specific to the
Figure 1. Study selection process
• Databases searched: CINAHL®, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health, Educational
Resources Information Center, ProQuest Education, Education Full-Text
• Search terms: (black OR African American OR minority) AND (male OR men) AND
(nursing student) AND (retention)
• Articles published 2010-2017
n=3,990 titles for review
____________________________________±________________________________________
1. 3, 990 titles reviewed
2. 18 duplicate titles excluded
3. 3,940 titles did not pertain to the topic of interest or meet inclusion criteria. The studies:
• had no results reported for African American/Black American male nursing
students.
• were conducted outside of the U.S.
• did not include nursing students in sample.
• focused on practical nursing students.
• were not primary research articles.
• focused on cultural competence, clinical practice, or minority nursing faculty.
4. 32 abstracts reviewed
5. 26 studies were excluded based on abstract – did not meet inclusion criteria
6. six full-text articles/dissertations retained and included in the review
7. one article identified through a previously conducted review of the literature was
included
v
Studies that met inclusion criteria and included in scoping review
n= 7
T h e A B N F Journal 21 Winter 2020
African American male study participants to be included
in the review. Studies that were excluded focused on
clinical nursing practice, African American males as
patients, practical nursing programs, or African American
males who were in fields other than nursing, such as
counseling, education, and STEM (see Figure 1).
Charting data and summarizing results
Charting data from research studies is required to
summarize and report results from studies included in
a scoping review (Arksey & O ’Malley, 2005). For this
scoping review, only research findings specific to African
American males were charted. These data are charted in
Table 2. Results for the scoping review are reported using
the subthemes created using thematic analysis.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Seven primary studies were included in this review,
three of which were doctoral dissertations. The primary
focus of these research studies was on identifying what
influenced minority student success in completing
pre-licensure nursing programs. Promoting minority
student success could play a critical role in increasing
diversity in the nursing profession. Students who belong
to underrepresented groups in nursing face barriers,
such as academic difficulty, bias, social isolation, and
lack of mentoring that can adversely affect their success
in nursing education programs (Hodges et al., 2017;
Murray, 2015a; Murray, 2015b; Sedgwick & Kellett,
2015; Smith & Smyer, 2015; White & Fulton, 2015). To
ensure that a diverse group of nurse graduates are eligible
to enter the nursing workforce, students who belong to
underrepresented groups must be able to achieve success
in attaining nursing degrees. As such, nurse educators
need to identify strategies that can be employed to
mitigate barriers to successful program completion.
Research design
This scoping review failed to yield any quantitative
studies that met inclusion criteria. Thus, all of the
research studies included in the review employed
a qualitative research design, with six of the seven
studies using a descriptive qualitative approach. African
American male nursing students made up a relatively
small number (n = 12) of the total number of participants
(n = 50) included in the research studies for this review.
Thus, researchers who are interested in examining
African American males as nursing students might have
difficulty recruiting a large enough sample to conduct a
study using a quantitative research design.
Institution and program type
There was diversity in program and institution type
between the seven research studies, with participants
being enrolled in or having graduated from either an
associate degree or a baccalaureate degree program at a
Historically Black College/University or a Predominantly
White Institution. However, none of the African
American male participants were enrolled in or had
graduated from an entry-level accelerated m aster’s degree
program in nursing, a proprietary (for-profit) institution,
or an online nursing program. Harris and Wood (2013)
suggested that attending for-profit institutions of higher
education could have adverse effects on success for men
of color. Additionally, Palacios and Wood (2016) found
that Black male students in community college achieved
greater success when taking face-to-face courses. Many
proprietary institutions offer online education programs
(Sturgis, 2012) that are appealing to students from
diverse backgrounds (Ke & Kwak, 2013; Sturgis, 2012).
Therefore, future research should explore factors that
influence success for African American male students
enrolled in online pre-licensure nursing programs to
determine if online education facilitates or further hinders
success in program completion.
Demographic information
The purpose of this scoping review was to identify
research studies that would provide insight into the
experiences and attributes of African American male
pre-licensure registered nursing students. Demographic
information (ie age, marital status, employment status,
etc.) for the African American male nursing students
was not described in all of the research studies (see
Table 2). However, three studies listed participants’ ages
(Boruff, 2012; Goings, 2016; Sweet, 2012). These ages
ranged from 27 to 50 years old, indicating that at least
four of the African American male nursing students were
older than traditional college-aged students (Jeffreys,
2015). Several of these students had children and family
obligations outside of school (Barren, 2013; Boruff,
2012) . The African American male nursing students in
the studies were described as high achieving, motivated,
and confident (Barren, 2013; Goings, 2016).
Another participant was pursuing an associate degree
in nursing as a second degree (Boruff, 2012). Having
males enter nursing as a second career is beneficial
to the profession because these men bring with them
knowledge and insight from other disciplines and can
offer innovative perspectives for addressing nursing
issues (Christensen & Knight, 2014; Marks & Bevan,
2013) . Many of the African American males discussed
being employed part-time while enrolled in an associate
degree nursing program (Barren, 2013; Boruff, 2012).
T he A B N F Jo urn al 22 W inter 2020
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