Aim The overall aim of this thesis is to create knowledge about caring and learning as an intertwining phenomenon at a Dedicated Education Unit and how it can be developed. Approach and method A lifeworld approach, based on the phenomenological philosophies foremost derived from Husserl and Merleau-Ponty was used and carried out in lifeworld interviews and with meaning-oriented analysis in accordance with reflective lifeworld research. The participants were: 13 student nurses (study I), 11 patients (study II), 8 supervisors (study III) all from the same DEU in orthopedic care and 10 managers from various DEUs (study IV). Main findings Intertwined caring and learning is most evident in genuine encounters between students and patients, supported by supervisors and managers. The intertwining is created in appealing challenges where students feel safe and ready. In the encounter with the patient they gain a sense of the whole where they can find their personal style. Patients, who feel invited to participate, could describe the encounter with students as genuine and a new dimension in nursing care. These encounters are characterized by closeness, thoroughness, accessibility, acknowledgement and sensitivity. When the encounter is less genuine, supervisors constitute an essential support for stabilizing the care.  Supervisors constantly move in order to either stay close to or stand back, adjusting to the students’ and patients’ needs. Their demanding task as reflective supervisors requires pauses in order to maintain motivation. The managers’ daily struggle in a stressful and challenging reality is influenced by them either having or taking responsibility. Differences in approaches are shown in terms of more or less involvement and commitment in caring environment and educational issues.  Conclusions Genuine encounters are characterized by the core of both caring and learning and will thereby benefit both the students and the patients. Identifying and supporting genuine encounters is necessary for students, supervisors and managers. It is time to find ways to develop a unified view of how caring and learning can be intertwined.

When students learn caring during clinical practice, the usual point of departure is thatcaring and learning coexist, as separate and parallel phenomena. There is, however, a needto study how caring and learning relate to one another, as well as when and how theyconverge. The aim of this dissertation is to describe how caring and learning converge inthe encounters between students and patients, in a dedicated educational unit withinpsychiatric care, as experienced by students, patients, and supervisors. Describing howsupervisory support can facilitate this is another aim. A reflective lifeworld approach basedon phenomenological philosophy has been applied. Data were collected through interviews,participant observations with follow-up interviews, and narrative diaries.The result shows that caring and learning converge in those encounters between studentsand patients which are characterized by reciprocity, wherein the patient’s narrative is thepoint of departure, complemented by the student’s listening and inquiring attitude. It ishere, that the desire for and pursuit of health and understanding, give the reciprocalinteraction power. The common desire of those involved to know, to become accustomedto the new and unfamiliar, as well as the presence of a feeling of responsibility for oneanother, create questions which in turn create opportunities wherein students and patientsare available to one another.The dissertation shows that learning in a caring context can be complex. Despite theirbeing prerequisites for one another, competition and conflicts can occur when the caringand learning perspectives are not equally attended to. When they are placed counter to oneanother, there is a risk that reciprocal interaction is hindered, which can cause loneliness forall involved. For convergence to occur most propitiously, those involved must exist in acaring and learning togetherness. Responsible and present supervisors are needed, whocreate possibilities for the perspectives to converge through maintenance and monitoring, sothat caring and learning receive equal space.A didactic concept has been developed based on the dissertation’s result, focusing on themeaning of creating forums where students’, patients’, and supervisors’ caringconsiderations and reflections can intertwine.

When students learn caring during clinical practice, the usual point of departure is thatcaring and learning coexist, as separate and parallel phenomena. There is, however, a needto study how caring and learning relate to one another, as well as when and how theyconverge. The aim of this dissertation is to describe how caring and learning converge inthe encounters between students and patients, in a dedicated educational unit withinpsychiatric care, as experienced by students, patients, and supervisors. Describing howsupervisory support can facilitate this is another aim. A reflective lifeworld approach basedon phenomenological philosophy has been applied. Data were collected through interviews,participant observations with follow-up interviews, and narrative diaries.The result shows that caring and learning converge in those encounters between studentsand patients which are characterized by reciprocity, wherein the patient’s narrative is thepoint of departure, complemented by the student’s listening and inquiring attitude. It ishere, that the desire for and pursuit of health and understanding, give the reciprocalinteraction power. The common desire of those involved to know, to become accustomedto the new and unfamiliar, as well as the presence of a feeling of responsibility for oneanother, create questions which in turn create opportunities wherein students and patientsare available to one another.The dissertation shows that learning in a caring context can be complex. Despite theirbeing prerequisites for one another, competition and conflicts can occur when the caringand learning perspectives are not equally attended to. When they are placed counter to oneanother, there is a risk that reciprocal interaction is hindered, which can cause loneliness forall involved. For convergence to occur most propitiously, those involved must exist in acaring and learning togetherness. Responsible and present supervisors are needed, whocreate possibilities for the perspectives to converge through maintenance and monitoring, sothat caring and learning receive equal space.A didactic concept has been developed based on the dissertation’s result, focusing on themeaning of creating forums where students’, patients’, and supervisors’ caringconsiderations and reflections can intertwine.