Effects of language barrier on international nursing students in Finland: a literature review
Famuyiwa, Oluwademilade Jemimah; Mbithe, Sheilah (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025121536170
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025121536170
Tiivistelmä
Language barriers have been identified as common challenges encountered by every international student, yet their impacts are underestimated. A nursing degree entails a multifaceted programme which requires communication skills for efficiency and effectiveness. Language barriers have been linked to psychological isolation in some previous studies, and were identified as a major challenge for international students.
The purpose of this thesis was to examine the effects of language barriers on international nursing students in Finland within the context of clinical learning environments and to explore ways to reduce these effects, with the aims of reducing the impact of language barriers in clinical training and enhancing the clinical learning experience and integration of international nursing students by addressing language-related issues.
The narrative review study design was employed in this thesis involving a qualitative analysis of eleven (n=11) empirical studies focusing on the impact of language barriers on international nursing students. The included studies were peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2025, with focus on how language barriers affect international nursing students.
The research findings revealed that language barriers negatively affect international nursing students in Finland, presenting significant challenges that span social, academic, psychological and professional domains, and these challenges can be mitigated through adaptive measures and institutionalized solutions. Inductive content analysis of data resulted in two significant themes. The first theme addresses the negative effects on international nursing students, such as academic and clinical performance challenges, psychological and social consequences, and professional marginalization, while the second theme focuses on the mitigating strategies for language barriers such as adaptive strategies by the students (including peer collaboration, self-study, and shared responsibility for language skills training) and institutionalized solutions (such as linguistic modification, tailored language courses, and use of English resources).
This finding reveals that effects of language barriers transcend beyond psychological isolation to include professional marginalization, calling for systemic and proactive measures to improve international nursing students’ well-being and professional development.
The purpose of this thesis was to examine the effects of language barriers on international nursing students in Finland within the context of clinical learning environments and to explore ways to reduce these effects, with the aims of reducing the impact of language barriers in clinical training and enhancing the clinical learning experience and integration of international nursing students by addressing language-related issues.
The narrative review study design was employed in this thesis involving a qualitative analysis of eleven (n=11) empirical studies focusing on the impact of language barriers on international nursing students. The included studies were peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2025, with focus on how language barriers affect international nursing students.
The research findings revealed that language barriers negatively affect international nursing students in Finland, presenting significant challenges that span social, academic, psychological and professional domains, and these challenges can be mitigated through adaptive measures and institutionalized solutions. Inductive content analysis of data resulted in two significant themes. The first theme addresses the negative effects on international nursing students, such as academic and clinical performance challenges, psychological and social consequences, and professional marginalization, while the second theme focuses on the mitigating strategies for language barriers such as adaptive strategies by the students (including peer collaboration, self-study, and shared responsibility for language skills training) and institutionalized solutions (such as linguistic modification, tailored language courses, and use of English resources).
This finding reveals that effects of language barriers transcend beyond psychological isolation to include professional marginalization, calling for systemic and proactive measures to improve international nursing students’ well-being and professional development.