Nurses, Soft Skills and Power: Life Stories of Internationally Educated Nurses

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dc.contributor.advisorGuo, Yan
dc.contributor.authorKim, Mary Marcia
dc.contributor.committeememberFleming, Douglas
dc.contributor.committeememberGroen, Janet Elizabeth
dc.contributor.committeememberLund, Darren E.
dc.contributor.committeememberRoy, Sylvie
dc.date2020-11
dc.date.accessioned2020-05-15T21:35:26Z
dc.date.available2020-05-15T21:35:26Z
dc.date.issued2020-05
dc.description.abstractThe numbers of internationally educated nurses (IEN) who have joined the Canadian health care workforce have steadily increased since the mid-twentieth century. Much of the literature has framed their nursing knowledge, communication skills, and soft skills from a deficit perspective. Little research has been conducted on IENs and soft skills in the Canadian nursing context and in IENs’ own voices. To address this gap in the literature, this study explored IENs’ interpretations of soft skills and how IENs conform to or resist soft skills in their nursing practice in Canada. The theoretical framework included Foucault’s governmentality, pastoral power, and technologies of the self. It also used transculturation. Data were collected from IENs in Calgary, Alberta, through life story and analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings show that IENs perceive nursing procedures (hard skills) as inseparable from soft skills and soft skills as coming in packages rather than as isolated skills. They view nursing as holistic and use their transcultural knowledge and multilingual abilities to meet the needs of patients from diverse backgrounds. Findings indicate that contrary to the existing soft skills literature, IENs have sophisticated communication and interaction skills, as well as transcultural knowledge. Moreover, findings show that IENs have used their transcultural knowledge and multilingual abilities to challenge the English-only discourse in health care settings. The life stories of the IENs in this study add new perspectives for understanding the relationship between nurses, soft skills, and power. This study suggests that there is a need to find a way to recognize, value, and utilize IENs’ skills and knowledge that does not depend on the biased gatekeeping mechanisms of soft skills for certification and evaluation of nursing skills.en_US
dc.identifier.citationKim, M. M. (2020). Nurses, soft skills and power: life stories of Internationally educated nurses (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/37850
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/112063
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyWerklund School of Educationen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectInternationally educated nurseen_US
dc.subjectIENen_US
dc.subjectsoft skillsen_US
dc.subjectgovernmentalityen_US
dc.subjecttransculturationen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Bilingual and Multiculturalen_US
dc.titleNurses, Soft Skills and Power: Life Stories of Internationally Educated Nursesen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation Graduate Program – Educational Researchen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopyfalseen_US
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