Developing Reflective Thinking through Poetry Writing: Views from Students and Educators

Creating and Using Poetry to Teach Theoretical and Conceptual Nursing Content

ABSTRACT

In nursing academia, educators are faced with the longstanding challenge of bridging the theory-practice gap. In a second-year nursing theory course, students were introduced to poetry on a biweekly basis, written by their educator in response to student needs in understanding complex theoretical and conceptual nursing topics. Through anecdotal evidence from clinical instructors and students, the sharing of poetry and subsequent discussions helped students to develop and enhance their critical thinking and clinical judgment, reasoning, and decision-making skills. This transformative pedagogical approach offers an alternative teaching strategy that can provide the basis for meaningful discussion and bridge the theory-practice gap.

Perception of care from the perspective of nursing students: A study using photovoice, storytelling and poetry

BACKGROUND

The Higher Education in Nursing requires providing students with skills such as critical and reflective thinking about the actions to be carried out so that they are capable of providing humanised and quality care in an increasingly complex and technified society. Participatory teaching methodologies promote the development of these skills.

OBJECTIVES

to explore the potential of photovoice, storytelling and poetry as instruments capable of encouraging reflection. To identify through images (photovoice) and poetic narratives (storytelling and poetry) the perception that students of the nursing degree express about nursing care.

DESIGN

qualitative study in the framework of the socio-critical paradigm, using photovoice, storytelling and poetry in the field of care.

PARTICIPANTS

first-year undergraduate nursing students at two Spanish universities in the academic year 2021-2022.

METHODOLOGY

48 images were shown and students were asked to select one, write a narrative and generate a short poem connected to the image. Subsequently, a content analysis was conducted of those poems evoked by the five photographs most chosen by the students. The analysis was supported by qualitative data analysis software. A total of 67 contributions from 67 students were analysed.

RESULTS

the concepts addressed in the poems and the compositions generated reveal how critical humanist thinking and reflection on the subject of care developed. The topics identified were care, accompaniment throughout the life cycle, working on the basis of values and caring for small details as subcategories of nursing care.

CONCLUSION

The combination of different tools in university education has encouraged reflection and enabled students to identify for themselves the importance of humanised care. Working on the theoretical foundation in an active way can reduce the gap between theory and practice and foster the empowerment of the nursing identity.

Evaluating the use of reflective cafés in Specialist Community Practitioner and Specialist Community Public Health Nurse programmes

Background: Specialist Community Practitioner (SCP) and Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) students are required to evidence their competency by the use of reflective practice as part of the NMC proficiencies. A reflective café trilogy comprising of three reflective teaching sessions was developed and introduced into a university programme to support and encourage alternative methods for deeper reflection within this student group. Aim: It was important for educators to evaluate if a reflective café met the student's needs and understand the usefulness of a 'reflective café' as a technique to support the process of reflecting on practice. Methods: Evaluation was undertaken using an online questionnaire. Findings: Students evaluated if the reflective café was useful for their own development and identified that the number of sessions met their developmental needs. Conclusion: The potential to develop alternative methods to reflect was recognised and the team plan to develop other reflective processes to support students in the future.