Faces of adversity.
This column introduces ideas for a nursing curriculum addressing living with adversity. The question is posed: How do we educate professional nurses to be with others in compassionate and helpful ways at times of calamitous or disastrous experiences? To answer this question the following possibilities for curriculum development are presented: (a) undergird nursing knowledge with value-laden nursing theory, (b) provide "away experiences" for both undergraduate and graduate students in nursing; (c) include theoretical literature on adversity in the curriculum; and (d) develop programs of research addressing phenomena of health experienced by those living with adversity. The column concludes with a personal story of an "away experience" by Vickie Britson.
Bunkers
Sandra Schmidt
SS
College of Nursing, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota, USA. tsbunkers@sio.midco.net
D003479:Curriculum; D004190:Disasters; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D015399:Nursing Research