Peer learning and mentoring as strategies to increase professional identity and the perception of inclusion as applied to an all-male clinical group in cegep nursing
Males face many challenges in nursing education. The clinical environment is not always supportive to the unique needs and challenges of male nursing students. A review of the literature identified four major obstacles that have a negative effect on male nursing students’ success rates: cultural, faculty, hospital and curriculum obstacles. The group under study is in the full-time 3-year nursing program. CEGEP John Abbott College is an Anglophone college on the island of Montreal. Over a 12-week period, a clinical group of six males, guided by a male faculty member, working as a mentor, was created during their last semester of nursing school to increase opportunities for peer learning, professional identity, and feelings of inclusion. Through the completion of surveys and a structured interview, the results were analyzed and demonstrate that male students have overall higher professional identity than their female counterparts, yet there was no difference in professional identity between males in the all-male clinical group versus the males in the mixed gender groups. An all-male clinical group led by a male instructor was shown to improve feelings of inclusion amongst participants. Several obstacles were identified as challenges to success in nursing programs.
PerformaPeer learning, Mentoring, Professional identity, Inclusion, Males
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