Immersion Experiences About Homelessness and Psychological Processes of Nursing Students: A Pilot Study

Background: Across disciplines, research findings demonstrate that positive exposure to members of stigmatized groups is effective in reducing social stigma. This study explored differences in nursing students' psychological processes about people experiencing homelessness related to a community immersion intervention. Method: This descriptive exploratory study examined change from pre- to postintervention. Linguistic inquiry and word count explores affective psychological and social psychological processes of undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Results: Average word use for overall affective and social psychological processes showed significant difference postimmersion intervention. No significant difference was found between affective and social processes postimmersion intervention in relation to nursing students' gender, previous experience with people experiencing homelessness, or previous nursing experience working in an emergency care setting. Conclusion: Affective and social psychological processes had significant differences after an immersion event. This supports that a well-designed immersion experience can be effective in both graduate and undergraduate programs and across student characteristics.