Student nurses supporting children with learning disabilities

Abstract

At Glasgow Caledonian University, nursing students are given the opportunity to gain practice experience by providing care and support to children with learning disabilities within the individual child’s home-setting during the summer holiday period. Three families of children with learning disabilities took part in a pilot study. The Study attempts to understand and explain the effects, if any, of such practice experiences for the families concerned. Hermeneutic analysis of interview texts utilising a Gadamerian approach reveals an initial understanding of the realities of life for the families concerned. The emergent picture is one of mothers being trapped within their own homes by and with their learning disabled children. Nursing student placements are viewed by families as liberating.