Being the stranger: Comparing study abroad experiences of nursing students in low and high income countries through hermeneutical phenomenology.

AIM: To understand the experience of American nursing students who complete a study abroad trip to a low-income country, Bangladesh, versus a high-income country, the Netherlands in the development of cultural consciousness. METHODS: Hermeneutic (interpretive) phenomenology was used to explore the journals of 44 students' experiences and reflections. RESULTS: The comprehensive understanding of the naïve and structural analysis revealed that, no matter where these students travelled, they increased their cultural consciousness. CONCLUSIONS: We need to revise curricula to create 'change from the familiar' experiences for all students (many cannot afford study abroad) to move students to cultural consciousness on their journey to cultural competency that may improve client health outcomes.

Dealing with emotions: medical undergraduates' preferences in sharing their experiences.

CONTEXT: Patient care evokes emotional responses such as uncertainty, grief and pride in medical students. There is a need for opportunities to share and express such emotions because they influence students' professional development and well-being. There is a trend towards introducing mentor programmes into medical curricula. It remains unknown whether students are willing and able to share their emotional experiences within this formal setting. We set out to explore how medical students share their emotional experiences and why. METHODS: We used thematic analysis, including purposeful sampling, parallel processes of data collection and constant comparative analysis, maintaining an audit trail for validation purposes. The study had a constructivist, interactional design and used Goffman's dramaturgical theory as an interpretive framework. Nineteen students participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Participants' narratives revealed a preference for sharing emotional experiences away from people who might expect them to uphold formal behaviour. They deliberately decided with whom to share their emotional experiences. Participants had a preference to talk to fellow students working in the same department, or family and friends outside medical school. CONCLUSIONS: Participants found it difficult to uphold behaviours that they thought patients, preceptors or the organisation expected of them as future doctors. In adjusting their behaviour to meet those expectations, they became attuned to how to best present themselves based on the people present. This influenced how they chose which emotional experiences to share with whom.