Mentor experiences of international healthcare students' learning in a clinical environment: A systematic review

Abstract

Many healthcare students were found to share similar experiences of mentoring and learning irrespective of their cultural background. However, the role of a positive intercultural mentor was found to make a significant difference for international students: such mentors advocated and mediated cultural differences and created a welcoming environment for international students by helping to minimise feelings of social isolation.

Development and testing of the CALDs and CLES+T scales for international nursing students’ clinical learning environments

“…The students’ experiences revealed a possible relationship between their learning and the limitations they encounter as a consequence of cultural diversity and its management (Mikkonen et al . ,b). This suggests a need for more detailed exploration of the factors that may influence international students’ learning.…”

“…The theoretical framework of CALDs was based on two systematic reviews of qualitative studies (Mikkonen et al . ,b) and can be compared with the theoretical development and implementation of the CLES+T scale. Since poorly developed instruments can lead researchers to draw invalid conclusions about the studied phenomena (Bhandari & Wagner , DeVellis ), it was necessary to carefully validate the new scale using appropriate methods and to be aware of its potential limitations.…”

“…) was established on the basis of two systematic reviews (Mikkonen et al . ,b). A synthesis of the data presented in these reviews was constructed using the three‐stage analytical process presented by Thomas and Harden ().…”

“…The experiences of international nursing students and their mentors have been discussed in two systematic reviews, but these did not cover empirical studies conducted to evaluate the impact of different factors on the learning of international nursing students in clinical environments (Mikkonen et al . ,b).…”

Mentors' competence in mentoring culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students during clinical placement

“…The importance of positive clinical learning environments cannot be emphasized enough as it has been shown in various studies to have a significant impact on the experiences that CALD nursing students have during their clinical placement (Edgecombe et al., ; Mattila et al., ; Mikkonen, Elo, Kuivila, et al., ; Myhre, ; Pitkäjärvi, Eriksson, & Kekki, ; Pitkäjärvi, Eriksson, Kekki, et al., ). The role of a mentor for culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students is a challenging one and several studies prove the need to develop mentors' competence in mentoring through educational programmes especially in regards to competencies in cultural and linguistic diversity (Arieli, ; Edgecombe et al., ; Jeong et al., ; Mattila et al., ; Mikkonen, Elo, Tuomikoski, & Kääriäinen, ; Mikkonen, Elo, Kuivila, et al., ; Myhre, ; Pitkäjärvi, Eriksson, & Kekki, ; Pitkäjärvi, Eriksson, Kekki, et al., ; Pitkäjärvi, Eriksson, & Pitkälä, ; San Miguel, Rogan, Kilstoff, & Brown, ; Sedgwick, Oosterbroek, & Ponomar, ).…”