Nursing Faculty's Perceptions of Climate Change and Sustainability.

Aim: The aim of this research study was to investigate the perceptions of climate change and sustainability of faculty teaching in associate and baccalaureate degree nursing programs in South Carolina and their attitudes toward inclusion of relevant content into the nursing curriculum.

Background: Climate change is a topic that receives limited discussion in most nursing education curricula.

Method: This cross-sectional, descriptive study gathered data from 21 schools of nursing via an online survey consisting of demographic questions, the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, and the Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey 2 and two questions regarding the current inclusion of content.

Nursing Education Amid a Pandemic: Mental Health in a Time of Virtual Learning.

Background: The unprecedented pandemic presented new stresses and challenges in nursing education impacting the mental health of nursing students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between virtual learning and the mental health of nursing students.

Method: This study used a descriptive, cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of 256 nursing students enrolled in a baccalaureate program.

Striving to Meet Global Health Competencies Without Study Abroad.

Introduction: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has radically changed the future of study abroad, yet students require the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to provide care for diverse cultures across geographical boundaries. The purpose of this article is to facilitate innovative learning opportunities in order to meet global health competencies in the physical or virtual classroom when study abroad is not feasible.

Approach: Based on a review of published literature related to global health competencies and nursing over the last decade, a description of suggested global learning activities is provided.

Preparing Undergraduates for the Global Future of Health Care.

Background: Health professionals must be academically and experientially prepared regarding the social determinants of health to reduce health disparities at the global level. The emerging literature reflects a trend for incorporating global health competencies for health care. Specifically, recommendations from the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, National Academy of Medicine, and multiple nursing organizations encourage the inclusion of a global health curriculum.

Culture and Birth Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Literature.

Introduction: Almost 830 women die daily in childbirth with 550 of those deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. This region has the highest maternal mortality rates in the world with 546 deaths per 100,000 live births. Research must focus on understanding cultural beliefs and practices to improve maternal health outcomes.

From guidelines to local realities: evaluation of oral rehydration therapy and zinc supplementation in Guatemala.

Objective: Diarrhea remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for children in low- and middle-income countries throughout the Americas. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed guidelines on incorporating zinc supplementation (ZS) with traditional oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in order to shorten the duration of diarrheal episodes and to reduce poor health outcomes. Guatemala adopted these guidelines in 2011, but they have not yet been fully implemented at the community level.

Volunteer Service and Service Learning: Opportunities, Partnerships, and United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Purpose: This article explores approaches to service involvement and provides direction to nurse leaders and others who wish to begin or further develop global (local and international) service or service learning projects.

Approach: We review types of service involvement, analyze service-related data from a recent survey of nearly 500 chapters of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), make recommendations to guide collaborative partnerships and to model engagement in global and local service and service learning.

Findings: This article offers a literature review and describes results of a survey conducted by the STTI International Service Learning Task Force.

Addressing the Challenges of Conducting Research in Developing Countries.

Purpose: To explore the unique challenges that occur when conducting research in developing countries so the reader can consider approaches for providing ethically and culturally appropriate research strategies applicable for the context of the host country.

Organizing Construct: This article presents an overview of the challenges, which are organized based on the phases of the research period: pre-enrollment, enrollment, and post-enrollment. At each stage, examples of adaptation to meet the challenges are presented and recommendations are posited.

Submitting for Dollars: Playing the Funding Game to Promote Transcultural Nursing.

Research requires funding! Every researcher understands the crucial role that money plays in implementing a research study. Research for nursing is no different. In the current economic environment, funding sources have become limited.

Implementation of a training program for low-literacy promotoras in oral rehydration therapy.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effectiveness of a culturally appropriate promotora training program related to oral rehydration therapy and diarrheal management. Factors that influenced the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program provided to low-literacy women in Guatemala are explored.

Design And Sample: Promotora training was conducted with 15 Mayan women from a rural community in the highlands of Guatemala.

Research-based recommendations for implementing international service-learning.

An increasing number of schools of nursing are incorporating international service-learning and/or immersion experiences into their curriculum to promote cultural competence. The purpose of this paper is to identify research-based recommendations for implementing an international service-learning program. A review of literature was conducted in the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature database using the keywords international, immersion, cultural competence, nursing, and international service-learning.

Reflexive photography: an alternative method for documenting the learning process of cultural competence.

Purpose: This qualitative descriptive study used reflexive photography to evaluate the learning process of cultural competence during an international service-learning project in Guatemala. Reflexive photography is an innovative qualitative research technique that examines participants' interactions with their environment through their personal reflections on images that they captured during their experience.

Design: A purposive sample of 10 baccalaureate nursing students traveled to Guatemala, where they conducted family and community assessments, engaged in home visits, and provided health education.

Facebook: a tool for nursing education research.

Facebook is an online social networking Web site that allows users to connect with other users. Nurse educators can use this technology to advance nursing research. Social networks provide new opportunities for locating potential research participants and maintaining contact during the research process.

The impact of service-learning on cultural competence.

Service-learning provides an excellent pedagogy for introducing students to clients of different cultural backgrounds, helping students become aware of the issues these clients face related to culture and health care, and teaching culturally appropriate care. The Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool was used to evaluate self-perceived cultural competence in a convenience sample of 60 baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in a community health nursing course following the completion of service-learning projects with local and international communities. Pre- and posttests were analyzed based on total scores and subscale (cognitive, practical, and affective) scores.

Reflections on a conversation with a curandera.

A curandera is recognized as a "culture or folk practitioner" in Latino cultures. Is the role of a curandera relevant to teaching transcultural nursing care in today's health care environment? Preconceived ideas of both Latino and non-Latino people have influenced how nurses and physicians view the role of the curandera. This article describes the lessons learned by the author and serves as encouragement for other nurses to be willing to incorporate the cultural practices of the curandera into modern health care.

Energizing the nursing lecture: Application of the Theory of Multiple Intelligence Learning.

Nurse educators struggle to find ways to create learning opportunities that are interactive and appeal to the needs of various students. The key to energizing the nursing lecture is to create an environment that encourages students to be active participants. It is essential to use creativity to design cognitive strategies that appeal to students' learning preferences.

Hablamos Español: crossing communication barriers with the Latino population.

This article outlines the retrospective study of a pilot project to teach Spanish phrases related to health care to students of an associate degree nursing program. This project was initiated in response to the documented increase in the Latino population in upstate South Carolina. In the decade from 1990 to 2000, four counties in this region documented increases in the Latino population at greater than 60%.