title: The silence of suffering: breaking the sound barriers.
abstract: Suffering is an inevitable reality that student nurses may be unprepared to witness. The 14-week college course, Understanding Suffering, was developed to help students better understand the suffering experience. Content for the course was drawn from nursing, sociological, and theological perspectives. Students scored significantly higher on a post-course evaluation of empathy and stated they felt better prepared to intervene in difficult clinical situations involving suffering. Course development, assignments, and evaluation are described in the article.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Saint Anselm College, and VNA Hospice, Manchester, NH 03102-1310, USA.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kazanowski
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.forename: Mertie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Caryn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sheehan
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D010146:Pain / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000451:nursing*; D013338:Students, Nursing; D014481:United States