Contested discourses and culture sensitivity: Norwegian nursing students’ experience of clinical placement in Nicaragua

Aim: The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of Norwegian students’ practical experience of ‘culture sensitivity’. Design: Using focus group interviews and individual written assignments, we draw upon Foucauldian social analysis to uncover nursing students’ narratives about their clinical placement in Nicaragua. Method: Seven third year bachelor nursing students enrolled in a clinical placement program on the Caribbean coast in Nicaragua and participated in focus group interviews. Interviews were conducted prior to their departure to Nicaragua and after their return to Norway. Other sources of data included learning objectives for clinical placement, written individual assignments with students’ reflections about their experiences and achievement of learning objectives. Results: Students´ express gradual increasing awareness about the nursing discourses and power relations shaping clinical encounters throughout their clinical placement learning trajectory. They become more aware of the micro-politics of nursing practices through their experiences of clashes between different contested nursing discourses.