Understanding and enhancing the learning experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students in an Australian bachelor of nursing program

The growth in numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students entering nursing programs in Australia presents challenges for academic and clinical staff, and most importantly the students themselves. In this paper we present the findings from a pilot study designed to explore these issues and to develop strategies to address them. This study used a qualitative explorative approach to gain rich in-depth data. Eleven culturally and linguistically diverse students, three clinical facilitators, and four academic staff participated in focus group interviews. Four major themes emerged: level of English language competence, feelings of isolation, limited opportunities for learning, and inadequate university support. The issues we identified led to a meaningful discussion of the political, financial, social and intercultural context that they are entrapped in. This paper provides educators, clinicians, policy makers and researchers with an insight where and how they commence to break the trap and highlights, the need for further research into the perspectives of Australian students' who study and socialise with their international peers. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd