Nursing students' reflections after meetings with patients and their relatives enacted by professional actors : Being touched and feeling emphaty

• When professional actors have been used in mental health simulations with nursing students, the experiencehas been regarded as a meaningful contribution to their education and described as a safe way ofexperiencing challenging situations that can occur in clinical settings. The aim was to study nursing students’reflections aftermeetings with nursing patients and their relatives, as enacted by professional actors,in psychiatric/elderly care. The design was a qualitative descriptive research approach. Gibbs’s (1988) reflectivecycle was the basis for the questions thatwere asked.Written reflections with 60 nursing studentswereanalysed using qualitative thematic content analysis. The analysis produced the theme “being touched andfeeling empathy,”with four categories: “becoming aware of what knowledge and skills are needed,” “wantingto dowell and to have the right answer,”“daring to get close and being present,”and “knowledge comesalive.” Simulation with real people who act as patients or relatives in vulnerable situations creates feelingsof empathy. To talk with them, experience eye contact, and see how they react on touch makes nursingstudents feel they have experienced closeness and their knowledge has become alive

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Annan hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Other Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Health Science

Hälsovetenskap

Nursing

Omvårdnad

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)