Description of a student success program to increase support, coping, and self-efficacy among under-represented minority nursing students in the wake of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial violence.

Background: Increasing the size and diversity of the nursing workforce is an important priority. Here, we describe a student success program to increase students' perceived support, coping, and self-efficacy for completing the nursing program among underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students in nursing education following the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice.

Methods: In collaboration with the Urban Health Program at the University of Illinois Chicago, we conducted a 15-week online student success pilot program with a volunteer sample of upper-level undergraduate nursing students.

Strategies to address structural and institutional barriers to success among students of color in nursing programs.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the significant disparities experienced by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths associated with the Coronavirus have underscored the imperative to increase the size and diversity of the healthcare workforce, including nursing. Academically focused pipeline development programs have led to some advances in minority recruitment and retention; however, emerging research highlights the importance of extra-academic factors that reduce the sense of belonging and persistence among underrepresented and minority students. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and activities of a college of nursing located in a minority-serving institution.

Experience of African American Surrogate Decision Makers of Patients With Dementia.

Dementia cases are expected to grow for African Americans and surrogate decision makers (SDMs) will have a significant role at the end of life (EOL). This qualitative exploratory case study used Cognitive Task Analysis and an integrated conceptual framework to understand the EOL decision experience of African American SDMs for patients with advanced dementia. Using a holistic multiple-case design, 8 African American SDMs were interviewed about their experiences with the decision-making process, including role acceptance, role enactment, and emotional outcomes of decision making.

The use of strategies from the social sciences to inform pipeline development programs for under-represented minority faculty and students in the health sciences.

Representation of under-represented minority (URM) faculty in the health sciences disciplines is persistently low relative to both national and student population demographics. Although some progress has been made through nationally funded pipeline development programs, demographic disparities in the various health sciences disciplines remain. As such the development of innovative interventions to help URM faculty and students overcome barriers to advancement remains a national priority.

End-of-Life Interventions for African Americans With Serious Illness: A Scoping Review.

Older African Americans (AAs) with serious illness experience disparities in advance care planning, access to palliative care and hospice, and decision-making at end of life. While culturally specific drivers of care outcomes have been identified, little has been done to standardize integration and application of targeted elements of end-of-life (EOL) interventions for AA populations. A scoping review was conducted to describe and evaluate the benefit of culturally targeted EOL interventions for AAs.

Advance Care Planning for African American Caregivers of Relatives With Dementias: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background And Objectives: African-American family caregivers may have insufficient knowledge to make informed end-of-life (EOL) decisions for relatives with dementias. Advance Care Treatment Plan (ACT-Plan) is a community-based education intervention to enhance knowledge of dementia and associated EOL medical treatments, self-efficacy, intentions, and behavior (written EOL care plan). This study evaluated efficacy of the intervention compared to attention control.

Trust Building Recruitment Strategies for Researchers Conducting Studies in African American (AA) Churches: Lessons Learned.

Background: An initial and vital important step in recruiting participants for church-based hospice and palliative care research is the establishment of trust and credibility within the church community. Mistrust of medical research is an extremely important barrier hindering recruitment in African American (AA) communities. A church-based EOL dementia education project is currently being conducted at four large urban AA churches.