Chris King
University of Notre Dame, Australia
Title: Promoting student belongingness: “Wanted†- The development, implementation and evaluation of a toolkit for nurses
Biography
Biography: Chris King
Abstract
This presentation will illustrate the research method and toolkit development process of a PhD project undertaken for the purpose of supporting and guiding nursing staff to create a sense of belonging to the team, for students undertaking clinical placement. Literature suggests that the need to belong to any given community influences health and well-being, which in turn affects behavioural, emotional and cognitive responses. However student nurses are often in a vulnerable position of being excluded intentionally or otherwise from ward/unit activities leading to feelings of isolation and poor achievement. The toolkit is to be developed from data extracted from a series of rounds conducted using the Delphi method. The toolkit will be distributed to selected clinical areas for use during periods of clinical practicum for students and evaluation of its applicability, usefulness and sustainability will be conducted. For the purpose of this study, the research strategy is a sequential mixed method which consists of two distinct phases, qualitative and quantitative research. The aim is to connect the results of the initial qualitative phase to the design, implementation and evaluation of the subsequent quantitative phase. The significance of this research lies in designing a relevant and practical ‘belongingness’ toolkit for nurses working in the clinical practice setting. It will encourage and enable a fundamental shift in attitude towards students by taking into account individual personal values and characteristics, the impact of the direct environment along with the need to belong in order to create a learning environment.