| Learning Objective #1: Describe how to incorporate an aesthetic intervention into a nursing course | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Describe the impact of an aesthetic intervention in assisting nursing students to describe clients' meaning of chronic illness |
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of incorporating an aesthetic project in a nursing course to facilitate nursing students' understanding of clients' experience with chronic illness. Design: An outcomes design was used. Population, Sample, Setting,Years: Target population was senior nursing students. The sample consisted of 132 final semester nursing students that were case managing a chronically ill client over the semester. Students had clients create aesthtetic projects in the client's homes. Data collection occurred from fall semester 1999 through spring semester 2002. Intervention and Outcomes: The intervention was for students to engage their clients in sharing the meaning of what it is like to live with a chronic illness through any method the client chose (poetry, song, drawing, etc.). Outcomes were measured by a questionnaire. Major variables included: the effect of the project on the client, the student and the nursing care. Methods: Students were given instructions in class about the project. Students presented results in class. All students completed an evaluation questionnaire about the project at the end of the semester. Findings: 72.4% of the students indicated the project benefitted their clients in some way and 44.4% stated that their nursing care changed because of what they discovered through the project. 68.8% of the students also reported that the project had changed themselves in some way. Finally, 77.8% stated they would use this project with future clients. Conclusions: Final semester nursing students were able to understand the diversity of their client's perceptions of illness through a project utilizing aesthetic knowing. Implications: Teaching nursing students how to discover the meaning of chronic illness through clients' eyes is critical information that can have profound effects on nursing care.
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Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003