Events
Oral PhD Defense: Jennifer B. Stewart
Enacting Emancipatory Nursing: The Identities, Pedagogies, and Challenges of Equity-Focused Nurse Educators
Advisor: Tania D. Mitchell
This study explores the identities, pedagogical strategies, and challenges of 10 nursing educators committed to advancing health equity. Using in-depth interviews conducted in 2022 in the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice movements, this research centers educators’ lived experiences to examine how identity and personal history shape their approaches to equity-informed nursing education. Framed by emancipatory nursing and responding to the 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials, findings are presented across three dimensions: educators’ identities and experiences, pedagogical practices, and barriers to enacting equity-focused education. Participants articulated how their personal and professional biographies influence their commitment to equity, often drawing on experiences of racism, ableism, and poverty. Pedagogically, educators emphasized community-based, relational, and student-empowered approaches that challenge traditional hierarchies and prioritize marginalized voices. Despite hope for the AACN Essentials’ potential to advance health equity, participants identified significant institutional constraints, including the lack of faculty training, faculty representation, and accountability. They emphasized the need to develop departmental cultures that prioritize equity work. These findings are examined through the lens of emancipatory nursing, which identifies systemic oppression as a root cause of health inequities and promotes praxis, critical reflection, and collective action. This dissertation argues for wider adoption of emancipatory nursing principles to unify and deepen equity-focused work in nursing education. Amid growing opposition, it calls for courageous leadership, accountability, and transformative action to ensure nursing education can meaningfully address social injustices and prepare future nurses to advance health equity.
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The University of Minnesota campuses were built on the traditional homelands of the Dakota and Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous peoples who have walked on these lands from time immemorial. It is important to acknowledge the peoples on whose land we live, learn, and work as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with our tribal nations. We also acknowledge that words are not enough. We must ensure that our institution provides support, resources, and programs that increase access to all aspects of higher education for our American Indian students, staff, faculty, and community members.