P. Burnard

Mentors or preceptors? Narrowing the theorypractice gap

The use of mentors in the clinical field has been debated in the recent nursing literature. The notion of the preceptor has also been considered. This paper compares the roles of the mentor and preceptor and offers some suggestions as to how those roles may help to narrow the theory/practice gap in nursing.

Nurses' interpersonal skills: a study of nurses' perceptions

Six Category Intervention Analysis was used as the framework of a study which involved asking 117 trained nurses to rate their interpersonal skills along six dimensions. The findings suggested that the nurses viewed themselves as being more skilled in offering support, information and prescription in their dealings with patients and less skilled in being catalytic, cathartic and confronting in similar circumstances. The findings in this study were similar to those of previous studies in this field. The study has implications for the development of interpersonal skills training programmes for nurses.

Learning about groups

Abstract Psychiatric nurses of all grades can benefit from developing group facilitation skills. There are a variety of situations in which such skills are called for: in running ward meetings; in organising discussion groups and in facilitating therapy groups. In order to gain such skills, those nurses require a theoretical knowledge base and practical experience. Such experience can be gained through the use of structured experiential exercises. This article outlines one approach to organising a workshop for the development of facilitation skills. It covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of such a workshop and may be adapted for use in a variety of settings in both basic and continuing nurse education.

Nurses and self-disclosure

Most forms of verbal communication involve self-disclosure — even if this is at the simplest level. However, given the complexity of nurse/patient relationships, it is fair to say that many verbal exchanges involve a certain degree of deeper, more personal disclosure. This workshop explores a variety of issues related to self-disclosure and allows workshop members to examine aspects of individual’s levels of self-disclosure.