Messy boundaries: the benefits to teenage patients of being cared for by young nursing students.
OBJECTIVE
To record some of the advantages expressed by young inpatients at a district general hospital in relation to the blurring of professional boundaries when they are being cared for by children's nursing students of an age similar to their own.


METHODS
A phenomenological study to explore the lived experience of young people in hospital and of younger children's nursing students (aged under 20 years old) caring for them. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted with nine young patients and 11 children's nursing students.


RESULTS
Young people in hospital appreciate the company of younger nursing students. In relation to identity development and psychosocial wellbeing, these interactions could be highly beneficial. However, 'messy boundaries' can create ambivalence in professional identity for the students.


CONCLUSIONS
'Messy boundaries' can enable therapeutic interactions that are beneficial to psychosocial wellbeing, but students may need support in balancing these with professional detachment.
University of Greenwich, London.
Jean
J
Shepherd
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010371:Pediatric Nursing; D013338:Students, Nursing