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Background: Measuring the effect of a study abroad program is one way to determine its impact on developing students' cultural competence. To date, few articles describe outcomes of such strategies. In some published studies, a description of the program or intervention is frequently not offered making it difficult to utilize findings or to replicate them. Purpose: To measure the effects of a study abroad program utilizing a structured course to improve the cultural competence of baccalaureate nursing students. Methods: A comparative quantitative design measured level of cultural competency before and after a study abroad program. Results: The results demonstrated an 89% improvement in cultural competence following this experience. Conclusions: A short-term study abroad experiential learning program can increase cultural competence for baccalaureate nursing students. Quantitative measures of effectiveness and a description of the program's content and format are essential in determining a study's strength.

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Background and objective: Research with Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), an interactive learning pedagogy, has shown improvement in grades and student satisfaction in science and nursing courses. POGIL is an active teaching strategy which utilizes small groups of students to analyze case studies. The student teams participate in groups of four to problem solve topics based on the material taught. POGIL can be additional to lecture and didactic teaching methods to help with the synthesis and analysis of content taught. The object of this study was to compare final course and national standardized exam grades between POGIL and comparison groups in both Fundamentals and Medical-Surgical II nursing courses. Methods: A quantitative, comparative design was used. Results: The Fundamentals POGIL group had significantly higher scores on a standardized national exam (p = .001) than a comparison group; no significant difference in final course grades was found. The Medical-Surgical Nursing II POGIL and comparison groups had no significant differences in standardized national exam or final course grades. Students in POGIL groups were given a satisfaction survey and indicated the experience was helpful to improving grades and understanding course content. Conclusions: In classes that used POGIL, there were higher scores on a standardized national exam scores but not final course grades for students in the Fundamentals course. Using POGIL in Medical Surgical Nursing II courses revealed no difference in final course grades or on national standardized exam scores. The use of POGIL for beginning nursing students may be more helpful as these students are in the process of determining which learning strategies are most helpful as they progress through the nursing curriculum. Introducing a new pedagogy to students in their last semester of the nursing program was not as helpful possibly because students have established successful strategies for learning prior to this last semester. Future research to further explore the impact of POGIL on grades and standardized tests scores in other nursing curriculum courses such as mental health or care of the emerging family is recommended. Exploring POGIL and the impact on the development of clinical thinking and clinical practice is another line of inquiry that could be explored.