Exploring Perinatal Global Health: A Reflective Commentary of a Nursing Student’s Experience Abroad in Uganda
Abstract
Background: The first author undertook the Perinatal Global Health Internship from May to July 2016 in Kampala, Uganda as part of the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship Program funded by the Community Foundations of Canada. The internship was carried out in partnership with the University of Calgary, Faculty of Nursing and University of Calgary International, and the Aga Khan University – School of Nursing and Midwifery with technical support from Universities Canada.
Aim: In this paper, we explain the role of nursing in global health, explore the first author’s learning in the area of perinatal health, and invite other nursing students to engage in global health work.
Discussion of Stories: A reflective commentary is used to describe the first author’s experience in a government hospital in Kampala as she learned to recognize the implications of perinatal distress, socio-ecological conditions, and resource-poor settings on the health of mothers and premature neonates. In the commentary, the first author also describes the development of an Early Childhood Development resource and the value of partnership in relation to this experience.
Reflection: The first author reflects on the benefit of the internship in developing key competencies and attributes for global health work, the need for cultural competency, and barriers to creating effective change to address complex issues.
Conclusion: The first author summarizes key learning from the practice, teaching, and research components of the internship. She describes growth, two-way learning, and recommendations for the internship.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
