title: The use and application of drama in nursing education--an integrative review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caring is grounded on universal humanistic values such as kindness, empathy, concern and love for self and others. Nurses need to learn how to implement these values in the care for patients. Nursing students find it hard to assimilate theoretical knowledge in practice. Experiential learning in the form of drama has been used in several studies to enhance nursing students' learning.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to review empirical and theoretical articles on the use and application of drama in nursing education.
  
  
  METHODS
  An integrative review of the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  The databases CINAHL, PubMed, ProQuest and Academic search elite were searched for articles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The search generated 64 articles, with 20 articles meeting the inclusive criteria. Three themes with their attendant subthemes emerged through the analysis. The themes are: The Framing, The Objectives and The Embodiment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drama is effective in entry level courses in nursing education to enhance student learning and can be flexible and adjusted to various contexts. Further research using drama to enroll nursing students as fictive patients and relatives and thereby explore different perspectives is suggested, and more research on the application of drama in nursing education at an advanced level is required.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Care Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 457, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden. Electronic address: susanna.hoglund.arveklev@gu.se.
authors.forename: Susanna H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Arveklev
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Care Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 457, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wigert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Care Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 457, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.affiliation: Griffith University, Mt. Gravatt Campus, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Care Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 457, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden; Østfold University College, Halden, Norway.
authors.forename: Margret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lepp
mesh_terms: D004324:Drama; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Application of drama; Drama; Educational drama; Integrative literature review; Nursing education; Teaching