Podcasting and the use of portable music/video players at the School of Nursing

Introduction As students become more connected with the internet and other current technologies, the school of nursing has continued to investigate more innovative, meaningful, and effective uses of technology. One particular technology whose use has increased is the portable music/video player. Like the cell phone, mp3 players and iPods have become a standard accessory for students. To capitalize on this popular technology the School has started several pilot projects involving podcasting under graduate and graduate nursing classes and has also been involved in one research project using video iPods. [See PDF for complete abstract]

The Personal Background and Preparation Survey Early Identifies Nursing Students at Risk for Attrition

Introduction Nursing student attrition continues to negatively impact the supply of nurses and nursing workforce diversity. Little research has addressed student attributes affecting nursing student attrition today. Research with college undergraduates has indicated that noncognitive attributes influence academic achievement and retention as much as academic attributes. Early identification of such attributes can help students to timely access appropriate services, providing improved opportunities for success. However, convenient, valid, quantitative, reliable assessment instruments appropriate for nursing students have been lacking. The Personal Background and Preparation Survey (PBPS) addresses the need for such a tool. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Hospitality Graduate Students’ Program Choice Decisions: Implications for Faculty and Administrators

Despite rapid growth in the quality and volume of hospitality graduate research and education in recent years, little information is available in the extant body of literature about the program choices of hospitality management graduate students, information that is crucial for program administrators and faculty in their attempts to attract the most promising students to their programs. This paper reports on a study among graduate students in U.S, hospitality management programs designed to understand why they chose to pursue their degrees at their programs of choice. Given the large numbers of international students presently enrolled, the study additionally looked into why international hospitality management students chose to leave their home countries and why they decided to pursue a graduate degree in the U.S. Based on the findings, implications for hospitality administrators and faculty in the U.S. and abroad are discussed and directions for future research are presented.

Irish and Jordanian general student nurses’ attitudes towards people with mental illness (PWMI) and their relationship to cultural and religious beliefs

Background Attitudes held and cultural and religious beliefs of general nursing students towards individuals with mental health problems are key factors that contribute to the quality of care provided. Negative attitudes towards mental illness and to individuals with mental health problems are held by the general public as well as health professionals. Negative attitudes towards people with mental illness have been reported to be associated with low quality of care, poor access to health care services and feelings of exclusion. Furthermore, culture has been reported to play a significant role in shaping people’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours, but has been poorly investigated. Research has also found that religious beliefs and practices are associated with better recovery for individuals with mental illness and enhanced coping strategies and provide more meaning and purpose to thinking and actions. The literature indicated that both Ireland and Jordan lack baseline data of general nurses’ and general nursing students’ attitudes towards mental illness and associated cultural and religious beliefs. Aims: To measure general nursing students’ attitudes towards individuals with mental illness and their relationships to socio-demographic variables and cultural and religious beliefs. Method: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted (n=470). 185 students in Jordan and 285 students in Ireland participated, with a response rate of 86% and 73%, respectively. Data were collected using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill instrument and a Cultural and Religious Beliefs Scale to People with Mental Illness constructed by the author. Results: Irish students reported more positive attitudes yet did not have strong cultural and religious beliefs compared to students from Jordan. Country of origin, considering a career in mental health nursing, knowing somebody with mental illness and cultural and religious beliefs were the most significant variables associated with students’ attitudes towards people with mental illness. In addition, students living in urban areas reported more positive attitudes to people with mental illness compared to those living in rural areas.

Cooperative or collaborative learning: Is there a difference in university students’ perceptions?

The hypothesis that the same educational objective, raised as cooperative or collaborative learning in university teaching does not affect students’ perceptions of the learning model, leads this study. It analyses the reflections of two students groups of engineering that shared the same educational goals implemented through two different methodological active learning strategies: Simulation as cooperative learning strategy and Problem-based Learning as a collaborative one. The different number of participants per group (eighty-five and sixty-five, respectively) as well as the use of two active learning strategies, either collaborative or cooperative, did not show differences in the results from a qualitative perspective.

Testing the psychometric properties of two self-report clinical competence scales for nursing students.

Background: It is important to assess the clinical competence of nursing students to gauge their educational needs. Competence can be measured by self-assessment tools; however, Anema and McCoy (2010) contend that currently available measures should be further psychometrically tested.
Aim: To test the psychometric properties of Nursing Competencies Questionnaire (NCQ) and Self-Efficacy in Clinical Performance (SECP) clinical competence scales.
Method: A non-randomly selected sample of n=248 2nd year nursing students completed NCQ, SECP and demographic questionnaires (June and September 2013). Mokken Scaling Analysis (MSA) was used to investigate structural validity and scale properties; convergent and discriminant validity and reliability were also tested for each scale.
Results: MSA analysis identified that the NCQ is a unidimensional scale with strong scale scalability coefficients Hs =0.581; but limited item rankability HT =0.367. The SECP scale MSA suggested that the scale could be potentially split into two unidimensional scales (SECP28 and SECP7), each with good/reasonable scalablity psychometric properties as summed scales but negligible/very limited scale rankability (SECP28: Hs = 0.55, HT=0.211; SECP7: Hs = 0.61, HT=0.049). Analysis of between cohort differences and NCQ/SECP scores produced evidence of discriminant and convergent validity; good internal reliability was also found: NCQ α = 0.93, SECP28 α = 0.96 and SECP7 α=0.89.

Discussion: In line with previous research further evidence of the NCQ’s reliability and validity was demonstrated. However, as the SECP findings are new and the sample small with reference to Straat and colleagues (2014), the SECP results should be interpreted with caution and verified on a second sample.
Conclusions: Measurement of perceived self-competence could start early in a nursing programme to support students’ development of clinical competence. Further testing of the SECP scale with larger nursing student samples from different programme years is indicated.

References:
Anema, M., G and McCoy, JK. (2010) Competency-Based Nursing Education: Guide to Achieving Outstanding Learner Outcomes. New York: Springer.
Straat, JH., van der Ark, LA and Sijtsma, K. (2014) Minimum Sample Size Requirements for Mokken Scale Analysis Educational and Psychological Measurement 74 (5), 809-822.

Construção moral dos estudantes de graduação em enfermagem como instrumento para a humanização do cuidado

O cuidado de enfermagem faz parte do mundo científico exigindo não apenas o desenvolvimento de habilidades para a realização de procedimentos técnicos, mas a possibilidade de resgatar a sensibilidade para cuidar de modo humanizado. Pressupõe-se que a construção moral durante o processo de formação dos estudantes de graduação em Enfermagem possibilita o exercício de um cuidado humanizado. Assim, tem-se como objetivo geral: Compreender como ocorre o processo de construção moral dos estudantes de graduação em Enfermagem para o exercício de um cuidado humanizado; e como objetivos específicos: Conhecer quais os valores morais que estão presentes nas ações dos estudantes de enfermagem para a promoção do cuidado humanizado; Refletir acerca de como a construção moral do estudante de graduação em enfermagem pode fomentar a humanização do cuidado; Conhecer barreiras vivenciadas no processo de construção moral dos estudantes de graduação em enfermagem para a realização do cuidado humanizado. Mediante uma abordagem qualitativa e utilizando, como referencial teórico-metodológico, a Etnoenfermagem de Leininger, o estudo foi desenvolvido com 28 estudantes regularmente matriculados na quinta e na sétima séries do Curso de Graduação em Enfermagem. A coleta dos dados ocorreu através de quatro fases de observação, uma fase de entrevista semi-estruturada e quatro fases de análise, identificando-se as categorias:- Processo de construção moral dos estudantes de enfermagem e o cuidado humanizado;- Valores morais nas ações dos estudantes de enfermagem para a promoção do cuidado humanizado;- Construção moral do estudantes de graduação em enfermagem como fomento da humanização do cuidado; - Humanização: barreiras vivenciadas no processo de construção moral dos estudantes de enfermagem. A partir da análise, afirma-se que a construção moral dos estudantes de graduação em Enfermagem, durante o processo de formação, possibilita o exercício de um cuidado humanizado. Destaca-se que o ambiente de formação deve ser um local em que o estudante seja respeitado e considerado como cidadão; estes aspectos culminarão com a possibilidade desse estudante desenvolver competências morais necessárias ao cuidado humanizado. Por outro lado, em um ambiente onde ocorra abuso ou desrespeito ao estudante, existe a tendência de ocorrer o fenômeno inverso, causando uma regressão da competência moral e possíveis repercussões negativas para o cuidado humanizado. Assim, pensar a construção moral dos estudantes de graduação em enfermagem exige das instituições de ensino um compromisso social e político, pois essa reflexão convida a avaliar e revisar suas práticas pedagógicas e condutas adotadas diante dos estudantes. Cabe, às escolas de enfermagem, oportunizar ao graduando, espaços que favoreçam sua construção moral. Na formação em enfermagem, é necessária a priorização das relações humanas e não somente do ensino de teorias e técnicas de cuidado, concluindo-se que o desenvolvimento moral é um dos eixos da humanização do cuidado.

Effects of two teaching strategies on the relationship between nursing students’ self-efficacy and performance in BLS/AED

Purpose: Nurses and nursing students are often first responders to in-hospital cardiac arrest events; thus they are expected to perform Basic Life Support (BLS) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) without delay. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between nursing students’ self-efficacy and performance before and after receiving a particular training intervention in BLS/AED. Materials and methods: Explanatory correlational study. 177 nursing students received a 4-h training session in BLS/AED after being randomized to either a self-directed (SDG) or an instructor-directed teaching group (IDG).1 A validated self-efficacy scale, the Cardiff Test and Laerdal SkillReporter® software were used to assess students’ self-efficacy and performance in BLS/AED at pre-test, post-test and 3-month retention-test. Independent t-test analysis was performed to compare the differences between groups at pre-test. Pearson coefficient (r) was used to calculate the strength of the relationship between self-efficacy and performance in both groups at pre-test, post-test and retention-test. Results: Independent t-tests analysis showed that there were non-significant differences (p-values > 0.05) between groups for any of the variables measured. At pre-test, results showed that correlation between self-efficacy and performance was moderate for the IDG (r = 0.53; p < 0.05) and the SDG (r = 0.49; p < 0.05). At post-test, correlation between self-efficacy and performance was much higher for the SDG (r = 0.81; p < 0.05) than for the IDG (r = 0.32; p < 0.05), which in fact was weaker than at pre-test. Finally, it was found that whereas the correlation between self-efficacy and performance increased from the post-test to the retention-test to almost reach baseline levels for the ILG (r = 0.52; p < 0.05), it slightly decreased in this phase for the SDG (r = 0.77; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Student-directed strategies may be more effective than instructor-directed strategies at promoting self-assessment and, therefore, may help to improve and maintain the relationship between nursing student self-efficacy and actual ability to perform BLS/AED.

Clinical skills and communication in nursing students

Abstract Background: Communication is a basic tool in nursing, a crucial element of care. The quality of the interactions that take place between the nurse and the user/family influence their satisfaction and security felt with the care received. Objectives: To identify the communication skills and interpersonal relationship of nursing students in health care; identify the sociodemographic and academic variables influencing communication skills and interpersonal relationship of nursing students in health care. Methodology: Quantitative study, cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire with questions concerning the socio-demographic and academic characterization; basic skills of interview and clinical communication in health care; learning of clinical communication skills and range of communication skills and interpersonal relationship. The sample consisted of 374 nursing students from two Portuguese schools. Results: The majority were female (80.5%), in the age group of 18-21 years. The students recognize the importance of clinical communication skills and interpersonal relations in nursing practice (82.4%); agreed on the teaching methods of communicational skills (54.3%). Evaluated their training in the area as good (71.7%). Age, semester and school influenced communication skills and interpersonal relationship of students (p <0.5) Conclusion: The results obtained allow us to state that the education / training of nursing student in the relational context is of fundamental importance in building capacity for competent professional practice.

B is for baby: the use of iPhone app technology in childbirth education

Midwives play an important role in antenatal education and there is a need for child birth education to be delivered more effectively and in the earlier stages pregnancy. There are numerous inconsistencies existing between the theory and practice of child birth education. A new direction is needed. The evolution of child birth education needs to quickly gain pace to meet the needs of today's expectant women. Contemporary technology presents a modern approach to support and promote child birth education classes. Consequently, this recent post graduate diploma student midwife project was to investigate the introduction of the use of iPhone app technology as a valuable tool in which to deliver child birth education. The conduction of the project included several elements, beginning with an extensive literature review, ethics approval; a survey completed by thirty two midwives at St Vincents Private Hospital (StVPH) was collected and generated the foundations for the prototype childbirth education iPhone App, and B is for Baby was constructed. This was then presented back to the midwives at St Vincent's Private Hospital as a means to compliment and contribute to the traditional face to face child birth sessions.

the health and well-being of nursing students in clinical practice . what prevents it? what promotes it?

Introduction: The training of nursing students in the context of clinical practice, is characterized by educational experiences, subject to various emotional stress (stress, ambivalence, frustration, conflict), sometimes making it very vulnerable student.However not all students use the same strategies minimizing their meanings and negative effects on the level of your health and well-being Objetiv:To analyze the perception that nursing students have about the determinants of their health status and well-being in clinical practice Methods: Exploratory research Results:The results reveal the complexity of the teaching / learning process in clinical practice, identified determinants that limit and / or promote health and well-being of students, or not contributing to their motivation, self-confidence and learning. All students value the presence of the following dimensions: affective-emotional (humanization in learning experiences); relational dynamics (interactions developed with all stakeholders); methods used (professional competence of the clinical supervisor and teacher); school curriculum (adaptation of learning in theory); socialization to the profession (become nurse).Conclusions: The results indicate, that although all students evidencing the dimensions described as fundamental to learning in clinical practice, the study results are dichotomous and ambivalent. Students 2nd and 3ºanos refer a low perception in clinical practice, the indicated dimensions, and for these source of concern and uncertainty in learning, such as limiting their health condition and well-being. For students of the 4th year, these dimensions are percecionadas as gifts, and sources of motivation, learning and catalysts such as promoting their health and well-being.

The development of a clinical learning environment scale

Within nursing, there is a strong demand for high-quality, cost-effective clinical education experiences that facilitate student learning in the clinical setting The clinical learning environment (CLE) is the interactive network of forces within the clinical setting that influence the students'clinical learning outcomes The identification of factors that characterize CLE could lead to strategies that foster the factors most predictive of desirable student learning outcomes and ameliorate those which may have a negative impact on student outcomes The CLE scale is a 23-item instrument with five subscales staff–student relationships, nurse manager commitment, patient relationships, interpersonal relationships, and student satisfaction These factors have strong substantive face validity and construct validity, as determined by confirmatory factor analysis Reliability coefficients range from high (0 85) to marginal (0 63) The CLE scale provides the educator with a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate affectively relevant factors in the CLE, direct resources to areas where improvement may be required, and nurture those areas functioning well It will assist in the application of resources in a cost-effective, efficient, productive manner, and will ensure that the clinical learning experience offers the nursing student the best possible learning outcomes

A psychology student’s reflections on learning psychodynamic psychotherapy in the classroom

A graduate psychology student reflects upon the experience of learning psychodynamic psychotherapy exclusively in the classroom. The majority of undergraduate psychology students have scant, and frequently inaccurate, exposure to psychodynamic psychotherapy. This appears to heavily influence students’ choice of postgraduate programs, and to reduce the likelihood that they will expose themselves to psychodynamic therapy at any stage of their careers. It is hoped that the original insights provided by this reflection will inform the development of psychodynamic psychotherapy teaching material that can be imparted effectively in undergraduate programs, even when access to patients and supervisors is not possible, so that more students are inspired to study psychodynamic psychotherapy in postgraduate programs.

As instituições formadoras e a identidade profissional da enfermagem : mimetismo ou metamorfose

O objeto do presente estudo consiste nos papéis exercidos pelas instituições formadoras de profissionais de enfermagem, pelo mercado de trabalho e pelas entidades de classe da enfermagem no processo de profissionalização e de construção de sua identidade profissional. Este estudo tem por objetivo reescrever o processo de construção da identidade profissional da enfermagem a partir das discussões travadas pelos profissionais, nas instituições formadoras, acerca de sua especialização, a luz dos fatos sócio-históricos que desencadearam, ao longo do tempo, a passagem de uma enfermagem generalista para outra especialista. O trabalho discute o processo de profissionalização da enfermagem nas instituições formadoras tendo como pano de fundo as idéias clássicas da sociologia das profissões. Para ela, a enfermagem é vista coma uma semiprofissão, uma vez que não possui os quatro atributos fundamentais de uma verdadeira profissão: autonomia, corpo esotérico de conhecimentos, ideal de serviço e monopólio de saber e do fazer. Na tentativa de conquistar estes quatro atributos, ou alguns deles, para, então, ascender ao patamar de profissão, a enfermagem hoje vive um momento de transição na formação de seus profissionais: generalistas (tradicionais) ou especialistas (modernos). Em um outro aspecto, concluímos que, até o momento, o processo de legitimação, ou melhor, de construção social da identidade profissional da enfermagem especializada ainda não se consolidou, ou seja, as instituições formadoras, construtoras sociais do campo profissional da enfermagem, ainda não se definiram pela figura de um só perfil - generalista ou especialista - e, por isso, esta construção ainda encontra-se inacabada.