Second-Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing Students' Preconceived Attitudes Toward the Homeless and Poor: A Pilot Study

The current economic climate of the United States has contributed to the crisis in health care delivery services. As a result, an increasing number of individuals present as poor and vulnerable. Currently, poverty rates in the United States are climbing, with literature clearly reflecting an association between poverty and ill health. With a number of economic barriers to health care, it has been suggested that health care providers' attitudes and subtle prejudices have also contributed to access. These preconceived negative attitudes can shame and embarrass vulnerable, homeless, immigrant, and poor individuals from attempting to access care. This research attempted to identify preconceived attitudes that second-degree baccalaureate nursing students possess prior to clinical exposure to poor and homeless populations through qualitative and quantitative investigative methods. Senior-level community health students preparing to deliver health care at a suburban homeless day shelter were asked to describe their experiences and opinions relative to homeless and poor persons before and after their actual contact with this population. Collected data suggest that there are subtle stereotyping and negative attitudes regarding the plight of overtly impoverished individuals before rendering care. After an 8-hour clinical experience with the aforementioned population, attitudes toward the vulnerable slightly improved, suggesting that clinical and didactic exposure to the plight of poor populations may assist to sensitize student nurses to exude compassion through a holistic therapeutic nurse–client relationship.