A Critical Discourse Analysis of AACN’s Tool Kit of Resources for Cultural Competent Education for Baccalaureate Nurses

• Published in: Global qualitative nursing research Vol. 10; p. 23333936231214420
• Main Authors: Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, Valderama-Wallace, Claire, Bigger, Sharon E., Narruhn, Robin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-01-2023; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Academic degrees; Cultural competence; Ethics, Theoretical Development, or Methodological Development; Medical research; Nursing education; Qualitative research; Transcultural nursing; colonialism; USA; cultural competence; critical discourse analysis; tool kit; nursing; nursing education; structural competence; cultural safety
• ISSN: 2333-3936; 2333-3936
• DOI: 10.1177/23333936231214420

American institutions of nursing education have integrated cultural competence as a pillar approach to addressing health disparities. The theoretical frameworks, priorities, and solutions that national organizations pursue and endorse have far-reaching implications. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is one such organization. The purpose of this project was to critically analyze the AACN’s Tool Kit of Resources for Cultural Competent Education for Baccalaureate Nurses to excavate dynamics related to language, power, and inequality. Findings of this critical discourse analysis indicate: (1) the centrality of the AACN’s assumed authority and lack of relationality with readers, (2) nursing insularity and narrow theorization of culture and power, and (3) the harm of whiteness and colonialism as pedagogy. Accountability and repair include transparency, taking note of resources and viewpoints available and endorsed on organization websites, and updating (or refuting) outdated and harmful approaches.