Exploration of the Learning Experiences of Undergraduate Nursing Students in Relation to the Care of Children with Special Health Care Needs in Home-Based Respite Care

• Main Author: Leisen, Melissa
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2021
• Subjects: Behavior Problems; Behavioral Objectives; Child Health; Clinical Experience; Clinical Teaching (Health Professions); Disability studies; Educational Finance; Educational Practices; Experiential Learning; Health education; Health Needs; Health Services; Nursing; Nursing Students; Respite Care; Special Needs Students; Student Experience
• ISBN: 9798209985204

With the population of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) expanding to near 18% of all U.S. children, nurses are increasingly likely to provide care for CSHCN. Negative perceptions and inadequate educational preparation to care for this population among pre-licensure professionals have led to poor care outcomes. There are large gaps in the nursing education literature that address teaching-learning experiences to ameliorate nursing students’ often negative perceptions of CSHCN and improve nursing students’ readiness to provide care for CSHCN. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted to elucidate traditional senior-level baccalaureate nursing students’ perceptions and beliefs about CSHCN and understand their experiences in caring for CSHCN during a clinical rotation involving home-based respite care for families with CSHCN, and the meanings the participants attributed to those experiences. Seventeen senior-level baccalaureate nursing students consented to participate. Data were generated using participants’ reflective journals completed during a clinical rotation in which they provided in-home respite care for CSHCN and through focus group interviews. Reflective journals and focus group transcripts were analyzed using conventional content analysis. The PI identified six themes concerning nursing students’: evolving perceptions and beliefs about CSHCN, respite care experiences, feelings regarding providing care to CSHCN, personal and professional growth, developing relationships while providing respite care, and making meaning of the experience. In their reflective journals completed on the respite care experience, nursing student participants described a transformation in their perceptions and beliefs about CSHCN. Participants described using nursing knowledge, skills, and clinical judgment to provide safe and effective respite care for CSHCN. Healthcare disparities and negative attitudes towards CSHCN persist. Parents state that what is most lacking in nursing care are effective communication skills with their children. Through experiential learning with CSHCN in in-home respite care, participants learned that CSHCN are “not so different” and stated that they were able to increase their level of comfort and competence in their abilities to communicate with and provide care for CSHCN. They found meaning by situating the experience in the context of their work as future nurses. This study adds to the sparse body of respite care research and the literature on the educational preparation of nurses to provide care for CSHCN. Nurse educators must begin to examine how to prepare the nursing workforce to provide care for the expanding population of CSHCN. This exploration of an innovative nursing student clinical learning experience can help inform nurse educators as they endeavor to develop educational experiences to prepare future nurses to provide compassionate, sensitive care for CSHCN and their families.