A project to increase faculty's cultural competence in mentoring English as a second language nursing students

The retention and graduation of English as a second language (ESL) nursing students are essential to better diversify the nursing workforce; however, ESL nursing students face academic, language, and cultural challenges. Development of faculty skills in working with ESL nursing students is essential. A faculty development project was implemented to assist the faculty in identifying barriers that confront ESL nursing students and to provide guidance in the utilization of strategies to enhance the success of ESL nursing students. A convenience sample of 10 full-time faculty members in diploma/associates in science program served as the population for the faculty development project. Computer-based PowerPoint modules were developed to deliver the content of the project, and effectiveness was measured through pre- and postproject evaluation of faculty. Evaluation results revealed that the faculty significantly increased their cultural knowledge and their total score of cultural competence. Additional evaluation of program effectiveness through direct observations showed that the faculty were able to utilize the information presented in the learning modules to their ESL support group sessions.