An Early 20th Century Correspondence Course in Nursing: Questionable or Quality Education.
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Overview of the topic: This paper examines whether the Chautauqua School of Nursing (CSN), an early 20th century correspondence course in nursing, offered quality education to serve as a theoretical foundation for professional nursing practice during that time. The accuracy and adequacy of the content, teaching and learning methodologies, and evaluation of learning will be discussed. Historiographical literature on the topic: Establishment of CSN occurred when extreme inconsistencies in the preparation of the nurse within the hospital training schools existed and organized nursing was working to standardize training, protect the title, nurse, and professionalize nursing practice with registration. There was continual conflict between CSN and organized nursing in New York fueled by major philosophical perspective differences regarding gender and class. The CSN founders saw nursing as a vocational skill for women rather than a developing profession. Correspondence courses have routinely received negative mention or no mention in the nursing history narrative. At the turn of the 21st century, CSN received positive mention for its innovative approach to educate nurses within a few publications; however, a comprehensive evaluation of the educational quality of the CSN correspondence course has not been published to date. Methods: This historical case study was carried out using a social history framework. Primary sources, including course lessons, examinations, correspondence, advertise-ments, published testimonies, textbooks, and lecture notes, were used from the Archives of the Foundation of the New York State Nurses Association, Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History; the Fenton Historical Society; and the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Secondary sources, including historical and contemporary professional journal articles, and analytical books on the subject, validated, enhanced, and confirmed findings. Summary and Implications: The curriculum of the CSN provided a quality theoretical foundation for nursing practice in the early 20th century for the disciplined, motivated, and literate student. Strengths were present in the CSN curriculum; the content was robust and its sequence and presentation were strategic. Practical experience was not required, which fed the source of major opposition, but the school strongly recommended it and provided guidance and support to students to secure experiences. Learning was assessed with short-answer questions on non-proctored tests. Although the school did not supervise students during testing, the test format and its evaluation served as instructional strategies to facilitate student learning. Students reported enrolling to better care for family, obtain work as a nurse, or supplement hospital training school preparation. Graduates reported working as a nurse in diverse settings and geographical areas. Re-quiring practical experiences would have strengthened the course but would have been difficult to manage and standardize. Partnership between the nursing education leaders and developers of the CSN curriculum was a missed opportunity to advance nursing education in the early 20th century. Based on its quality curriculum, CSN has value and deserves a place and space within the nursing education history narrative. *Research for this work was funded by the American Association for the History of Nursing, H-15 Grant.
