African American Voices: Reflecting, Reforming, Reframing is the second work in a series devoted to promoting diversity in nursing and nursing education. This text was written to ensure that all nurse educators and for those who want to be nurse educators are prepared as culturally competent and culturally sensitive health care providers who serve patients who do not look like them, or speak like them, or believe in the same ideas that they do. It presents a number of issues facing the nursing profession, such as the nursing shortage and its impact on the delivery of health care for underrepresented populations; integration of innovative simulations to teach cultural competence; the shortage of nurse educators, especially African Americans, and the value of mentoring; and the role of PhD in nursing programs. This text, written by a diverse author pool, helps prepare a variety minority nurse educators and researchers to meet the complex needs of ethnic and racial populations. Nurse educators and students will find exciting strategies that can be used to promote excellence and build tomorrow’s diverse nursing workforce. Further, this book serves to provide a platform for discussions surrounding health care issues in the African American community: health issues that are too often ignored or described within a broad context leading one to think that one size fits all is appropriate for all African Americans. This book covers a variety of topics affecting various aspects of health care in the African American community and is designed to help nurse educators think about how they portray health care issues of the African American community. In addition, African American Voices: Reflecting, Reforming, Reframing provides the tools needed by the academic community to adequately prepare the next generation of educators regarding a variety of topics. Written by a talented set of African American professionals who have cared for populations of clients or taught students who looked like them and many who did not. Discussions of important curriculum issues regarding personality and depression, cancer prevention, HIV/AIDS, mental health, and substance abuse offer readers information critical to licensed practical nurse, diploma, associate degree, and baccalaureate and higher degree nursing programs.
