Widening the lens on capital: conceptualising the university experiences of non-traditional women nurse students

Abstract

This article argues the insufficiency of the traditional application of cultural, social and economic capital in conceptualising the nontraditional student experience. Built on the thematic analysis of 52 in-depth interviews with 28 mature-age women nursing undergraduates with family responsibilities in Australia, an alternative, expanded model of capital is proposed. The qualitative study, underpinned by Gadamer's Hermeneutic Philosophy, revealed multiple threats and enablers to progression throughout the degree. Dimensions of capital previously unacknowledged in the nursing literature were necessary to fully conceptualise these rich and complex findings, including important student strengths. These dimensions: aspirational, navigational, resistant, familial and experiential capital, compensated when traditional dimensions were lacking, or incongruent with university expectations. This longitudinal study further revealed how the availability and importance of capital altered with the changing curriculum and participants' personal growth.

Going-it alone: the university progression of women nursing students who are the first person in their intimate relationship to go to university

“…Also mirroring the FIF research was the finding that partners without university experience valued the idea and potential benefits of HE less than those with this experience and were also less emotionally invested. Explored in detail in a separate publication (Andrew et al, 2020), participants who were both FIR and FIF found themselves in a position where neither their partners nor parents were able to offer the kind of emotional support associated with helping women students to cope with the stress of university life (Webber, 2017).…”