Emotional competence and nursing education: a New Zealand study.
Effective nursing practice requires the ability to recognise emotions and handle responses in relationships with clients and their families. This emotional competence includes nurses managing their own emotional life along with the skill to relate effectively to the multiple colleagues and agencies that nurses work alongside. The research was designed to explore the views of nurse educators about the challenges they encounter when seeking to assess a student's development of emotional competence during the three year bachelor of nursing degree. Focus groups were used to obtain from educators evidence of feeling and opinion as to how theory and practice environments influence student nurses' development of emotional competence. The process of thematic analysis was utilised and three key themes arose as areas of importance to the participants. These were personal and social competence collectively comprises emotional competence in nursing; emotional competence is a key component of fitness to practise; and transforming caring into practice. The findings of the study indicate a need for definition of what emotional competence is in nursing. It is argued that educators and practicing nurses, who work alongside students, must uphold the expectation that emotional competence is a requisite ability and should themselves be able to role model emotionally competent communication.
School of Health and Social Services, Massey University, Palmerston North.
Stacey C
SC
Wilson
Jenny
J
Carryer
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000339:Affect; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001364:Awareness; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005181:Faculty, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008611:Mentors / Q000523:psychology; D009042:Motivation; D009520:New Zealand; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology