Diversity is a major objective in educating the next generation of nursing students.

Students underrepresented in nursing may face challenges entering and completing nursing education programs.

Social issues represent barriers to underrepresented students beyond traditionally considered educational challenges.

Student success initiatives must consider unique challenges in providing supports to promote success in nursing education.

Increasing the size and diversity of the nursing workforce is an important priority. Here, we describe a student success program to increase students' perceived support, coping, and self-efficacy for completing the nursing program among underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students in nursing education following the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice.

In collaboration with the Urban Health Program at the University of Illinois Chicago, we conducted a 15-week online student success pilot program with a volunteer sample of upper-level undergraduate nursing students. The curriculum for the program included topics centered on traditional student success topics and psychological, emotional, and contextual issues associated with student success. The sessions were conducted weekly throughout the Spring and Fall semesters of 2021, lasting 90-min. Quality improvement evaluations included weekly process variables and a post-test assessment.

Participants (N = 35) were primarily female and Hispanic. The program was acceptable, with participants very satisfied with the weekly sessions (83 %). Post-evaluations revealed self-reported improvements in peer support (69 %), confidence in reaching educational goals (94 %), handling microaggressions (77 %), coping with adversity (80 %), stress levels (63 %), and thoughts about leaving the program (86 %).

This student success program shows promise for improving general and minority-specific factors associated with student success. Additional development and evaluation are needed to determine the program's benefits for a larger group of nursing students.

Student success program

Nursing education

Persistence

Under-represented minorities

Student support

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