Henny M. Olsson

Nursing education and professional role acquisition--theoretical perspectives

This article deals with professional role acquisition in nurses. All nursing education take place in specific social settings. Each social setting is one element of a complex system of process factors. The student nurses own role-enaction is constantly subject to modification or adaptation. Role-enaction as well as all social interaction can be grouped into three types: change-drama, interchange-ritual and maintenance-routine. Student nurses must learn what is significant for the role of the professional nurse. How is this accomplished and how do they learn the nursess role in a specific situation?

The use of the nurse self description form in Sweden : translation and applicability

. The Nurse Self Description Form (NSDF) is a self-administered paper-and-pencil test and contains 19 items with which respondents mark own self-valuation. The NSDF has previously been used in California (USA) to explore the relationship between sex-role identity and description of self, and to study the perception of professional self among graduating nurses. A translation and adaptation of the instrument into Swedish conditions has been carried out. The applicability of the instrument has been tested with the aid of the result from a pilot study using the NSDF carried out in Sweden and the result from a study presented by Dagenais & Meleis in 1982. The comparison between the Swedish version of the instrument and its opposite number in California indicates that the substance of the Swedish NSDF is not influenced by the translation and adaptation into Swedish.

Nursing education and definition of the professional nurse role. Expectations and knowledge of the nurse role.

The aim of nursing education is a development of the nursing profession. One way to promote development is to clarify the professional role. The role definition for nursing is mostly transmitted through tacit knowledge. We consider that the professional development of the nursing profession in Sweden requires a clear and well-defined nurse role. Stated goals of professional programmes for nursing do not include the entire body of tacit knowledge. The overall development requires recognition of a professional status together with a clear and well-defined role. We have found a significant change in the distribution of role-conceptions which occurred after the nurses had experienced their first year as registered nurses, and which did not occur during the educational process. This indicates that the conceptions of the need for a more clearly defined nursing role are assimilated during work experience. This confirms the necessity and importance of role modelling, role repetition and interactions with a professional group as part of the educational process.

Fundamental and situational components in a strategy for attaining a positive patient experience of the pelvic examination : a conceptual approach

Since 1983, researchers in medicine, behavior, and health care have been involved in collaborative work concerning attitudes toward the pelvic examination (PE). Important components of the analysis are social actions and conduct, which are conceptualized from role theory. The outcome of the PE is determined by both fundamental and situational components. The purpose is to discover optimal environmental conditions under which the PE should be performed. The medical profession has a long history, primarily established within hospitals. Professional performance has been directed toward diagnosis and cure; consequently, a particularistic view dominates. Throughout history the midwifery profession has had the primary task of supporting the woman in confinement. The dominant view of the midwifery profession is universalistic. The strategy we present is an approach for conceptualizing the bases determining the PE situation. It is a distinct step toward finding gynecological practices that may create positive patient experience of the PE.

Quality of Competence in the Role of Nursing — as Result of Education, Professional Practice and Research:

The foundation upon which contemporary nursing is built is art, knowledge, experience and science, interlinked by research, The skills of the nurse are the result of education, professional training and research. This study was based on two self-administered questionnaires subject. The chosen study-instruments were PSDF and EECP. Involved in the study were 76 Recently Graduated Nurses, 73 Head Nurses/corresponding and 32 Teachers from Mälardalens University College. The study shows that a RGN and a HN have differing expectations about the skills of recently graduated nurses. T and HN have greater self-esteem than a RGN. Drive in combination with a will to co-operate in developing nursing sciences and in controlling nursing sciences are a good sign of healthy development of skills within the nursing profession and its sphere of activities.

Students Opinions about Sex Education in a Swedish School Region

Sex education has been a requirement in Swedish schools for the past 30 years. The purpose of the study was to describe the opinions of 17- and 18-year-old Swedish students at the upper secondary school regarding the sex education they received at school as well as their knowledge about the anatomy and physiology of reproduction. A questionnaire concerning education about sex and relationships was answered by 421 students. The results of questions regarding human reproduction illustrated that the students have insufficient knowledge about mens and womens reproductive organs. Two-thirds of the students who had received sex education thought the instructions were insufficient. The students wanted to talk more about positive and negative feelings within a relationship and feelings concerning sexually transmitted diseases and abortion. In summary, the results indicated that the content of sex education should focus on womens reproductive organs and the feelings and relationships between men and women. The type of instructions and how instruction time is utilized should be examined closely.

Humour: A Matter of Culture — Qualitative Study of Non-Nordic Nurses in Sweden

It is only during the last few decades that the relationship between humour and health has begun to be discussed in a more comprehensive manner. The study is descriptive and is based on informative statements made by a group of nurses whose ethnic origin were non-Nordic. The study include both men and women (N=20) who had complimented their nursing training with a graduate course when arriving Sweden. The nurses were asked to give a narrative to the question «What does humour mean to you?» Cognitive theory has been applied to the result. The study emphasises that humour should be used with care and sensitivity. Respect for others is a central aspect in the study and the need to practice empathy is underlined.

Nursing and Humour — An Exploratory Study in Sweden

Nursing and humour both contain variables such as physiological, psychological, social-cultural, spiritual and ones of a developmental characteristic. Most researchers in nursing look to the fact that nursing is both a science and an art. «Humour theorists» uphold the same idea, and maintain that humour contains variable from different scientific fields whilst being an art form. The aim of this study is to describe experiences of humour in health service and nursing, as well as to find a possible link between humour and nursing-variables. The study is explorative and is based on a questionnaire survey. The questions requiring open ended answers have been arranged according to their meaning and category. The study covered three groups: patients, employees within health service and nursing and persons with no connection to health service and nursing. Participant (N = 802) were obtained through consecutive choice during a three week period. The question «What do you see as humour?» gave replies which can be divided into the following six categories; jokes, laughter, macabre humour, situation comedy, pun and unexpected situation. The majority, although somewhat lower in the patient group, felt that humour could be used in health service and nursing. Patients were also asked a supplementary question: «Is humour used in the health service?» Only 4 % of the men and 15 % of the women thought this was the case. A majority thought their own sense of humour to be greater than that of other people. Humour is a positive experience, and can be used as protection. The ethical code expressed by ICN must be applied to humour used in nursing.

Nursing education and professional role acquisition. A longitudinal study of expectations and attitudes towards nurse role acquisition

This article deals with professional role acquisition in nurses and discusses results from three studies concerning expectations and attitudes towards this acquisition. The studies have been carried out in Sweden. The discussion comprises expressed expectations and attitudes of nurse students and registered nurses in relation to our theoretical perspectives presented in a former article. The theoretical perspectives concentrate on three aspects of social action: change-drama, interchange-ritual, and maintenance-routine. The results indicate that the professional nurse role is acquired according to a traditional pattern, in spite of changes in curriculum and goals of nursing education and health care. Changes made to develop and improve the conditions under which role acquisitions take place.

Personal hygiene in external genitalia of healthy and hospitalized elderly women

A comparative study of the personal hygiene of two groups of elderly women was carried out in Orebro, Sweden. The investigation group consisted of 28 women who were hospitalized in long-term care wards and the comparison group consisted of 35 healthy women. The results show that a remainder of soap in the genitalia may be one factor contributing to elderly hospitalized womens discomfort. Caregivers should be educated in how to assist elderly hospitalized women with their personal hygiene.