Enhancing the Diversity of Student Nursing Practitioners: A Formative Participatory Program Evaluation of a Northeastern Licensed Practical Nursing Program

Objective: This study aimed to provide a program evaluation of a longstanding Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program within an urban U.S. context. This study aimed to identify strengths and weaknesses in the current LPN program, gather participant feedback, and make recommendations for future improvements emphasizing culturally and contextually appropriate programming in the health sector. In this manuscript, researchers detail a final evaluation report of an external evaluation of an established LPN program. This study was guided by three key evaluation questions, an examination of multiple documents, including grant proposals, student evaluation survey data, attendance records, and interviews with student alumni and administrative staff. Methods: Using purposeful sampling, semi-structured interviews were collected to understand the experiences of participants and staff. Next, document analysis was utilized to examine the discourse and portrayal of the program. We provide a qualitative overview, and recommendations based on the experiences of students and staff involved in the LPN program. Four types of documents were examined in this Institutional Review Board (IRB) -approved study, including one grant proposal, 67 student evaluation surveys (n=67), two years of attendance records, two semi-structured interviews with student alumni, and three administrative staff to identify the goals of the evaluation and develop key evaluation questions to be answered by the data collection and analysis about the nursing program. Results: Findings yield an emphasis on supporting the social conditions of students and staff. Researchers suggest using a participatory framework which entails working closely with key stakeholders to advance social outcomes that might be appropriate for the altruistic norms embedded in the larger healthcare and social work arena. Conclusion: Findings highlight effective measures to refine and maintain a high-quality student-centered nursing program for working adults through contextually and culturally appropriate programming.