Dignity in nursing care: what does it mean to nursing students?

Rosemary Mullen, Angela Kydd, Anne Fleming, Laura McMillan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
138 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background:
Despite growing interest in the potential of nursing education to enhance dignity in nursing care, relatively little is known about what dignity means to nursing students.

Research question:
What meaning does dignity in nursing care have for nursing students?

Research design:
Photo-elicitation was embedded within a Nominal Group Technique and responses were analysed by qualitative and quantitative content analysis.

Participants and research context:
Participants were recruited from each year of a 3-year undergraduate preregistration adult nursing programme in Scotland. In total, 31 nursing students participated in the study.

Ethical considerations:
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery, University of the West of Scotland.

Findings:
Participants articulated the meaning of dignity in nursing care in terms of the relationships and feelings involved. A total of 10 categories of meaning were identified.

Discussion:
The significance of the nature of the nurse–patient interaction to preserving dignity in nursing care is highlighted.

Conclusion:
Understanding the meaning of dignity for nursing students may help prepare future nurses more able to preserve dignity in nursing care.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)390-404
Number of pages15
JournalNursing Ethics
Volume26
Issue number2
Early online date20 Sept 2017
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 20 Sept 2017

Keywords

  • content analysis
  • dignity in care
  • ethics education
  • nursing students
  • photo-elicitation
  • topic areas

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