This research evaluates whether nurses working in general hospital settings utilise the counselling skills they are taught during their initial nurse training when they practice as qualified nurses. A narrative enquiry methodology was used to gather stories about everyday nurse patient interactions from eight nurses working in a variety of general hospital settings. The stories were tape recorded and transcribed before being subjected to qualitative descriptive analysis, a variant of content analysis, which yielded a number of themes. The analytical process incorporated the use of a hermeneutic circle to reinforce the reliability of the analysis and three types of skill were identified within the narratives. The narratives suggest that nurses do use counselling skills regularly when interacting with patients and carers, in particular the skills of information giving and empathy. These skills are inter-related in nursing practice and their usage stems from the personal experiences of the nurses involved rather than any training received prior to their qualifying as registered practitioners. While the sample size is relatively small the findings might suggest there could be some worth in further research to determine the relational skills possessed by those wishing to enter nurse training. This type of investigation has a resonance with current calls for reform of nurse education and might allow for training in the area of interpersonal skills to become more personalised. Ethical permissions were obtained from NRES, the Ethics committee of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and the University of Manchester.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:632312 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Digan, John |
| Contributors | West, William; Mcnamara, Olwen |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/are-the-counselling-skills-nurses-learn-in-training-apparent-in-their-everyday-interactions-with-patients-and-carers(e0c2fba5-d651-4c44-b509-55433538d2df).html |
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