
Abida Solomon
Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing, United States
Abstract Title: Understanding pre-nursing students' academic needs among students with disabilities requiring accommodation within an HBCU
Biography:
Dr. Solomon is a tenured Professor at Prairie View ACM University, College of Nursing. She is engaged in both teaching and research. Her educational background is in public health, and she received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University Of Texas School Of Public Health in Houston. She has published a number of articles related to obesity, physical activity, asthma, and hypertension. I am a member of the American Public Health Association, Texas Society for Public Health Education, American College of Epidemiology, and Sigma Theta Tau International.
Research Interest:
Across the nursing profession, Schools of Nursing are noticing a rise in the number of students requesting academic accommodation with increased numbers of students requesting and receiving accommodation later in the semester. A recent report cited the number of undergraduate students reporting a disability as 21% and 11% of graduate students with rates of disability at approximately 18% for African American students in 2020 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023). Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive data on the representation of nursing students with disabilities in nursing programs. This project aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of the needs of this special population by assessing the number of students registered with disability services, specific disability categories, and types of academic accommodation requested by pre-nursing students within the university. We analyzed 4 years of de-identified aggregate data (2021-2024) on disability services at Prairie View A&M University, College of Nursing. A descriptive analysis was used to describe the data, frequencies, and percentages were calculated for each nominal variable, and summary statistics were calculated for each interval and ratio variable. Overall, the number of requests for accommodation almost doubled over the four-year period (37 to 67). The results of this project enhanced our understanding of the specific needs of this population at the program level, which will be used to tailor interventions, create educational resources, and enhance support structures within nursing education to reduce attrition rates among nursing students. This consequently improves their retention, progression, and graduation rates.