Abstract
BackgroundAlthough nursing education aims to equip nursing students to provide care to dying patients and their families, nurses often feel ill-prepared to cope with the emotional labour involved in end-of-life care.ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to explore and describe nursing students’ experiences of end-of-life care through experiential learning within a constructivist educational model.MethodA qualitative, descriptive design was used. As part of introducing experiential learning, innovative educational practices were initiated during a second year level undergraduate nursing module on end-of-life care. Qualitative data on second-year nursing students’ experiences were collected through written reflections and analysed using open coding.ResultsThe themes that emerged revealed participants’ sensory and emotional experiences during the learning opportunities. Participants reflected on what they learnt and clarified their values related to death and dying. They indicated how they would apply the new meanings constructed in clinical practice.ConclusionA constructivist educational model of experiential learning holds potential to enhance value clarification and nursing students’ sensory and emotional awareness of death and dying. Experiential learning is recommended to develop nursing students’ competency in providing end-of-life care.
Highlights
Learning how to face death and dying is inevitable for nurses who are often the caregivers at the end-of-life (Todaro-Franceschi & Lobelo 2014:171)
Chan and Tin (2012:900) believe that to prepare nurses for the demands of end-of-life care requires more than the traditional teaching methods that focus on transferring knowledge and skills
A process of self-reflection to identify and consider personal beliefs about death and the worth of life, may help to prepare nurses for ethical decision-making during end-of-life care (Tarzian & Schwarz 2010:35–36)
Summary
Learning how to face death and dying is inevitable for nurses who are often the caregivers at the end-of-life (Todaro-Franceschi & Lobelo 2014:171). Mastering end-of-life care competence often confronts nursing students with their own mortality and their personal beliefs about death and dying (Peters et al 2013:14). Chan and Tin (2012:900) believe that to prepare nurses for the demands of end-of-life care requires more than the traditional teaching methods that focus on transferring knowledge and skills. They believe that ‘self-competence’, referring to personal resources, existential coping, and emotional coping, is a necessary competency to deal with death, dying and bereavement (Chan & Tin 2012:899). In end-of-life care, nursing education http://www.curationis.org.za doi:10.4102/curationis.v38i2.1537
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