Readings from two novels, Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, were included in maternal-child clinical courses as part of a pilot project to identify potentially effective strategies for increasing student cultural sensitivity and reflective thinking skills. The authors analyzed student journals to determine student values and beliefs during maternal-child clinical experiences. The study sample consisted of 40 young women enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program in a private, liberal arts university. These young women consistently interpreted `the other' in their own image. They responded most strongly to themes of belonging, including the struggles of immigrants to `fit in,' the ways of being acceptable and valued in U.S. society, and the process through which students as nurses learn to accept and care for others who are different.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston