Promoting dignity in nursing education - How educators manoeuvre to promote dignity.

BACKGROUND: Dignity is a core value in nursing. One of the objectives in nursing education is to promote dignity and contribute to the students' discovery of this value. Research shows that dignity in nursing education is threatened, due to lack of attention and an increasing problem with incivility. PURPOSE: The study aims to explore how nursing educators experience their contribution in promoting dignity in nursing education. METHOD: Five focus group conversations were conducted with nursing educators, and Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics was chosen as the study's scientific theoretical approach. FINDINGS: The educators experienced that they promoted dignity by safeguarding the dignity in the nursing profession in general, by promoting the dignity of the nursing students in particular, and through promoting dignity in challenging situations. CONCLUSION: The study emphasizes the importance of promoting dignity in nursing education. It found that the nursing educators promoted dignity by safeguarding the dignity of both the nursing profession and the nursing students, and by manoeuvring judiciously between these two when there was disharmony between them. By manoeuvring challenging situations using discretion, the ethical demand will be given room. Dignity can then be fulfilled between people in harmony with professional, social and cultural norms, and in that way promote dignity in nursing education.

Dignity at stake in educational relations - The significance of confirmation.

INTRODUCTION: It is a goal in nursing education to promote students' dignity and facilitate this core value. Students' experience of dignity is shaped by the student-supervisor relationship. Literature shows limited knowledge about how nursing students experience their own dignity during education. RESEARCH AIM: The aim of the study is to develop an understanding of how nursing students experience their own dignity in relation to supervisors, and what significance these experiences have in education. RESEARCH DESIGN: Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics was chosen as the approach, and narratives and qualitative interviews were conducted. The interpretation process was inspired by Fleming, Gaidys and Robbs. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: Nineteen nursing students in the final year of their education were included in the study. They represented six different campuses at three different educational institutions. The qualitative interviews took place at the educational institutions. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The research recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki were followed. Access to the students was given by the educational institutions. All interested students signed a continuous informed consent. FINDINGS: Students' dignity was at stake in encounters with supervisors during education. Decisive for experience of dignity was the supervisor's ability to confirm the student through acknowledgment, reassurance and seeing them as individuals. Experienced dignity had a crucial impact on students' life courage and their ability to be present. DISCUSSION: The discussion emphasizes the vulnerable dignity of students, the importance of confirmation and the significance perceived dignity has. CONCLUSION: Students' experiences tilted between perceived dignity and offense, and placed students' dignity in a vulnerable position. Crucial for perceived dignity was the confirmation the students received from their supervisors. Perceived dignity gave the students courage and increased their ability to be present, which provided better opportunities for learning and development.

Discovering dignity through experience: How nursing students discover the expression of dignity.

INTRODUCTION: Dignity is a core value in nursing. Nursing education shall prepare students for ethical professional practice and facilitate insight into the phenomenon of dignity and its significance. There is limited knowledge about how nursing students discover dignity in their education. RESEARCH AIM: The aim of the study is to develop an understanding of how nursing students discover and acquire dignity. RESEARCH DESIGN: The study has a hermeneutic approach where qualitative interviews of nursing students were employed. The process of interpretation was inspired by text of Fleming, Gaidys and Robbs. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: Nineteen nursing students agreed to be included in the study, representing six different campuses at three different educational institutions. All were in the final year of their study. The interviews took place at the educational institutions. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The educational institutions facilitated recruitment of the students who signed voluntarily for participation and continuous informed consent. The study was approved by The Norwegian Center of Reporting Data (NSD). The research recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki were followed. FINDINGS: The nursing students discovered the expression and significance of dignity through experiences, gained through introspection and in interaction with others during the education. DISCUSSION: The findings are discussed using Gadamer's concept of experience and how experiences can create new insight. In particular, the students' experiences with the inner ethical and external aesthetic dimension of dignity are discussed. CONCLUSION: The study shows that students discovered the inner ethical dignity through experiencing vulnerability, pride and shame. They discovered the external aesthetic dignity through incidents, where they experienced both to be confirmed and not to be confirmed, and through observation of good or bad role models. Crucial negative and positive experiences are important for discovering the expression and significance of dignity.