Dignity in nursing care: What does it mean to nursing students?
BACKGROUND:
Despite growing interest in the potential of nursing education to enhance dignity in nursing care, relatively little is known about what dignity means to nursing students.


RESEARCH QUESTION:
What meaning does dignity in nursing care have for nursing students?


RESEARCH DESIGN:
Photo-elicitation was embedded within a Nominal Group Technique and responses were analysed by qualitative and quantitative content analysis.


PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT:
Participants were recruited from each year of a 3-year undergraduate preregistration adult nursing programme in Scotland. In total, 31 nursing students participated in the study.


ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS:
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery, University of the West of Scotland.


FINDINGS:
Participants articulated the meaning of dignity in nursing care in terms of the relationships and feelings involved. A total of 10 categories of meaning were identified.


DISCUSSION:
The significance of the nature of the nurse-patient interaction to preserving dignity in nursing care is highlighted.


CONCLUSION:
Understanding the meaning of dignity for nursing students may help prepare future nurses more able to preserve dignity in nursing care.
['Mullen|Rosemary F|RF|', 'Kydd|Angela|A|', 'Fleming|Anne|A|', 'McMillan|Laura|L|']
D000328:Adult D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate D004993:Ethics, Nursing D005260:Female D017144:Focus Groups D006801:Humans D008297:Male D028723:Personhood D036301:Qualitative Research D012606:Scotland D013338:Students, Nursing
nursing students photo-elicitation Content analysis dignity in care ethics education topic areas