Using Critical Race Theory: An Analysis of Cultural Differences in Healthcare Education

This paper is a literature review of articles published from 1992 to 2002 in the American Journal of Health Education using critical race theory as a lens of analysis of culture differences in healthcare.

Critical Race Theory and Adult Education: Critique of the Literature in Adult Education Quarterly

This paper examines the assumptions and paradigms used to discuss diversity and equity in adult education literature using critical race theory as a lens. Five themes emerged from the critique that may initiate an innovative dialogue about the realities and subjectivities singling out racial and ethnic minorities in the USA.

The Exclusion of Race From Mandated Continuing Legal Education Requirements: A Critical Race Theory Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to critique the system of CLE using Critical Race Theory as an analytical lens in an effort to reveal possible reasons for the exclusion of bias and discrimination from CLE offerings in the legal profession.

Critical Race Theory: Focusing the Lens on Human Resource Development

The challenge that continues to face HRD is how to integrate real concerns for diversity into programs, practices, and research. Critical race theory was used as a lens to examine work on diversity published in Human Resource Development Quarterly (HRDQ). Eight publications were selected and analyzed.

Teaching Disruptive Students: An Indictment of Colorblind Teacher Education Programs

Teacher education programs do not sufficiently prepare White teachers to work with Black and Latino students in disciplinary alternative schools. From a critical race theory in education perspective, prepared White teachers are aware of their own ethnocentrism and, subsequently, develop anti-racist pedagogy and curricula.

The career development of Black female chief nurse executives

This qualitative study was designed to explore the career development of Black female chief nurse executives. Although a small proportion of Black female nurses have achieved positions at the nurse executive level, there remains a paucity of Black female nurse executives in this crucial position which raised the question of what factors contributed to this lack of advancement, but, more important, what factors have contributed to the success of the few who have achieved such level of success in healthcare organizations. The purpose of the study was to explore the career paths of Black female chief nurse executives with a view of understanding the factors which both facilitate and hinder the career development of these leaders in healthcare organizations. The guiding research question was, How do Black female nurse executives in this sample describe their career development? The participants in this study were Black female chief nurse executives located throughout the United States who, for the most part, were raised in segregation with a strong family foundation. To collect data, semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 10 Black female chief nurse executives throughout the United States. The transcripts from the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Using Super’s (1990, 1996), and Gottfredson’s (1981, 1996, 2002, 2005) career development theories and critical race theory (Crenshaw, 1995; Delgado, 2000) as the theoretical framework, the researcher found that the participants’ career development was influenced by (a) strong support system, (b) guidance, (c) influence of diversity, and (d) servant leadership. The findings help us understand the factors that have contributed to their successes as Black chief nurse executives. With the increasingly diverse population and concurrent increasing diversity in nursing and concerns about healthcare disparities, it is imperative that organizations attract, hire, develop, retain, and advance qualified Black nurses. Future studies addressing not only the career development of Black nurses but nurses in general might be informed by the present study’s findings. Recommendations are offered for nursing practice, education, and organizational policy.

Decreasing Law Enforcement Applicants and Racial Profiling – Reversing the Trends

Valuing Polyrhythmic Realities and Critical Theories, specifically Critical Race Theory, is facilitated by Interdisciplinary inquiry. Racial Profiling will be utilized to demonstrate how acknowledging the lived experiences of individuals and viewing situations from the oppressed viewpoint will positively impact the number of Blacks in law enforcement.

Using LatCrit, Autoethnography, and Counterstory to Teach About and Resist Latina/o Nihilism

Nihilism caused by inequalities and injustices hurts students of color. Educators can help these students with Critical Race theory and storytelling. Latina/o students also face nihilism but there is no clear solution. This study explores a way to use LatCrit in the K-12 classroom to fight for justice and equality.

The Career Development of Black Female Chief Nurse Executives

This qualitative study was designed to explore the career development of Black female chief nurse executives. Although a small proportion of Black female nurses have achieved positions at the nurse executive level, there remains a paucity of Black female nurse executives in this crucial position which raised the question of what factors contributed to this lack of advancement, but, more important, what factors have contributed to the success of the few who have achieved such level of success in healthcare organizations. The purpose of the study was to explore the career paths of Black female chief nurse executives with a view of understanding the factors which both facilitate and hinder the career development of these leaders in healthcare organizations. The guiding research question was, How do Black female nurse executives in this sample describe their career development? The participants in this study were Black female chief nurse executives located throughout the United States who, for the most part, were raised in segregation with a strong family foundation. To collect data, semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 10 Black female chief nurse executives throughout the United States. The transcripts from the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Using Super’s (1990, 1996), and Gottfredson’s (1981, 1996, 2002, 2005) career development theories and critical race theory (Crenshaw, 1995; Delgado, 2000) as the theoretical framework, the researcher found that the participants’ career development was influenced by (a) strong support system, (b) guidance, (c) influence of diversity, and (d) servant leadership. The findings help us understand the factors that have contributed to their successes as Black chief nurse executives. With the increasingly diverse population and concurrent increasing diversity in nursing and concerns about healthcare disparities, it is imperative that organizations attract, hire, develop, retain, and advance qualified Black nurses. Future studies addressing not only the career development of Black nurses but nurses in general might be informed by the present study’s findings. Recommendations are offered for nursing practice, education, and organizational policy.

A Phenomenological Exploration of Black Male Law Enforcement Officers' Perspectives of Racial Profiling and Their Law Enforcement Career Exploration and Commitment

This phenomenological study explored Black male law enforcement officers’ perspectives of how racial profiling shaped their decisions to explore and commit to a law enforcement career. Criterion and snow ball sampling was used to obtain the 17 participants for this study. Super’s (1990) archway model was used as the theoretical framework. The archway model “is designed to bring out the segmented but unified and developmental nature of career development, to highlight the segments, and to make their origin clear” (Super, 1990, p. 201). Interview data were analyzed using inductive, deductive, and comparative analyses. Three themes emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: (a) color and/or race does matter, (b) putting on the badge, and (c) too black to be blue and too blue to be black. The deductive analysis used a priori coding that was based on Super’s (1990) archway model. The deductive analysis revealed the participants’ career exploration was influenced by their knowledge of racial profiling and how others view them. The comparative analysis between the inductive themes and deductive findings found the theme “color and/or race does matter” was present in the relationships between and within all segments of Super’s (1990) model. The comparative analysis also revealed an expanded notion of self-concept for Black males – marginalized and/or oppressed individuals. Self-concepts, “such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, and role self-concepts, being combinations of traits ascribed to oneself” (Super, 1990, p. 202) do not completely address the self-concept of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals. The self-concept of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals is self-efficacy, self-esteem, traits ascribed to oneself expanded by their awareness of how others view them. (DuBois, 1995; Freire, 1970; Sheared, 1990; Super, 1990; Young, 1990). Ultimately, self-concept is utilized to make career and life decisions. Current human resource policies and practices do not take into consideration that negative police contact could be the result of racial profiling. Current human resource hiring guidelines penalize individuals who have had negative police contact. Therefore, racial profiling is a discriminatory act that can effectively circumvent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission laws and serve as a boundary mechanism to employment (Rocco & Gallagher, 2004).

The knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies of faculty in associate degree nursing education programs

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies by full-time and part-time faculty in Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) programs. ^ Sanders CTI (1992) instrument was adapted for this study and pilot-tested prior to the general administration to ADN faculty in Southeast Florida. This modified instrument, now termed the Burroughs Teaching Strategy Inventory (BTSI), returned reliability estimates (Cronbach alphas of .71, .74, and .82 for the three constructs) comparable to the original instrument. The BTSI was administered to 113 full-time and part-time nursing faculty in three community college nursing programs. The response rate was 92% for full-time faculty (n = 58) and 61% for part-time faculty (n = 55). ^ The majority of participants supported a combined definition of critical thinking in nursing which represented a composite of thinking skills that included reflective thinking, assessing alternative viewpoints, and the use of problem-solving. Full-time and part-time faculty used different teaching strategies. Full-time faculty most often used multiple-choice exams and lecture while part-time faculty most frequently used discussion within their classes. One possible explanation for specific strategy choices and differences might be that full-time faculty taught predominately in theory classes where certain strategies would be more appropriate and part-time faculty taught predominately clinical classes. Both faculty types selected written nursing care plans as the second most effective critical thinking strategy. ^ Faculty identified several strategies as being effective in teaching critical thinking. These strategies included discussion, case studies, higher order questioning, and concept analysis. These however, were not always the strategies that were used in either the classroom or clinical setting. ^ Based on this study, the author recommends that if the profession continues to stress critical thinking as a vital component of practice, nursing faculty should receive education in appropriate critical teaching strategies. Both in-service seminars and workshops could be used to further the knowledge and use of critical thinking strategies by faculty. Qualitative research should be done to determine why nursing faculty use self-selected teaching strategies. ^

Borinquen, la tierra de Belen: Participatory Action Research and Transformational Theory in the Urban Chicago Puerto Rican Experience: A Critical Analysis

This paper analyzes how José Lopéz’s participatory action research and transformational learning theory addresses the oppressed Puerto Rican experience. The paper examines the historical experience of colonialism, explains these two theories, and explores Lopéz’s adult education work in the Puerto Rican community using participatory action research and transformational learning.

The knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies of faculty in associate degree nursing education programs

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies by full-time and part-time faculty in Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) programs. Sander's CTI (1992) instrument was adapted for this study and pilottested prior to the general administration to ADN faculty in Southeast Florida. This modified instrument, now termed the Burroughs Teaching Strategy Inventory (BTSI), returned reliability estimates (Cronbach alphas of .71, .74, and .82 for the three constructs) comparable to the original instrument. The BTSI was administered to 113 full-time and part-time nursing faculty in three community college nursing programs. The response rate was 92% for full-time faculty (n = 58) and 61 % for part-time faculty (n = 55). The majority of participants supported a combined definition of critical thinking in nursing which represented a composite of thinking skills that included reflective thinking, assessing alternative viewpoints, and the use of problem-solving. Full-time and part-time faculty used different teaching strategies. Fulltime faculty most often used multiple-choice exams and lecture while part-time faculty most frequently used discussion within their classes. One possible explanation for specific strategy choices and differences might be that full-time faculty taught predominately in theory classes where certain strategies would be more appropriate and part-time faculty taught predominately clinical classes. Both faculty types selected written nursing care plans as the second most effective critical thinking strategy. Faculty identified several strategies as being effective in teaching critical thinking. These strategies included discussion, case studies, higher order questioning, and concept analysis. These however, were not always the strategies that were used in either the classroom or clinical setting. Based on this study, the author recommends that if the profession continues to stress critical thinking as a vital component of practice, nursing faculty should receive education in appropriate critical teaching strategies. Both in-service seminars and workshops could be used to further the knowledge and use of critical thinking strategies by faculty. Qualitative research should be done to determine why nursing faculty use self-selected teaching strategies.

Implications of a theoretical framework on stress and burnout for the development of graduate nursing education curricula

This study had two purposes: (a) to develop a theoretical framework integrating and synthesizing findings of prior research regarding stress and burnout among critical care nurses (CCRNs), and (b) to validate the theoretical framework with an empirical study to assure a theory/research based teaching-learning process for graduate courses preparing nursing clinical specialists and administrators.^ The methods used to test the theoretical framework included: (a) adopting instruments with reported validity, (b) conducting a pilot study, (c) revising instruments using results of the pilot study and following concurrence of a panel of experts, and (d) establishing correlations within predetermined parameters. The reliability of the tool was determined through the use of Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient with a resulting range from.68 to.88 for all measures.^ The findings supported all the research hypotheses. Correlations were established at r =.23 for statistically significant alphas at the.01 level and r =.16 for alphas.05. The conclusions indicated three areas of strong correlation among the theoretical variables: (a) work environment stressor antecedents and specific stressor events were correlated significantly with subjective work stress and burnout; (b) subjective work stress (perceived work related stress) was a function of the work environment stressor antecedents and specific stressor events, and (c) emotional exhaustion, the first phase of burnout, was confirmed to be related to stressor antecedents and specific stressor events. This dimension was found to be a function of the work environment stressor antecedents, modified by the individual characteristics of work and non-work related social support, non-work daily stress, and the number of hours worked per week. The implications of the study for nursing graduate curricula, nursing practice and nursing education were discussed. Recommendations for further research were enumerated. ^

Making Life Choices Program: A psychoeducational intervention for promoting critical cognitive and affective competencies in adolescents at-risk for problem behaviors

The long term goal of the work described is to contribute to the emerging literature of prevention science in general, and to school-based psychoeducational interventions in particular. The psychoeducational intervention reported in this study used a main effects prevention intervention model. The current study focused on promoting optimal cognitive and affective functioning. The goal of this intervention was to increase potential protective factors such as critical cognitive and communicative competencies (e.g., critical problem solving and decision making) and affective competencies (e.g., personal control and responsibility) in middle adolescents who have been identified by the school system as being at-risk for problem behaviors. The current psychoeducational intervention draws on an ongoing program of theory and research (Berman, Berman, Cass Lorente, Ferrer Wreder, Arrufat, & Kurtines 1996; Ferrer Wreder, 1996; Kurtines, Berman, Ittel, & Williamson, 1995) and extends it to include Freire's (1970) concept of transformative pedagogy in developing school-based psychoeducational programs that target troubled adolescents. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated trends that were generally encouraging with respect to the effects of the intervention on increasing critical cognitive and affective competencies. ^