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Using Aesthetic Knowing to Teach Diversity of the Chronic Illness Experience to Nursing Students

Diabetes Treatment Center at Desert Springs Hospital, Las Vegas, Nevada

Lori Candela, EdD, APN, FNP, BC, CNE

Psychosocial Nursing Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

This article determines the effectiveness of incorporating an aesthetic project into a nursing course in facilitating nursing students' understanding of patients'experiences with chronic illness. From fall 1999 through spring 2002, the authors collected data from 136 final-semester nursing students who were providing case management to chronically ill patients as part of their course work. Students engaged their patients in sharing the meaning of living with a chronic illness through any method the patient chose (poetry, song, drawing, etc). All students presented results in class and completed an evaluation questionnaire about the project. Of the students, 72.4% indicated that the project benefited their patients in some way and 55.6% stated that their nursing care changed because of what they discovered through the project; 68% also reported that the project changed them in some way. Nurses' holistic understanding of chronic illness can make their care more effective and satisfying.

Key Words: aesthetics • art • diversity • perception • chronic illness • nursing education • nursing care

Home Health Care Management & Practice, Vol. 18, No. 6, 439-443 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1084822306289984


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