Beyond the Fields We Know: Enhancing interdisciplinary learning

Historically, important interdisciplinary exchanges between nursing and psychotherapy have proved beneficial to understanding the emotional impact of nursing practice (Robertson, 1971; Menzies Lyth, 1988; Obholzer and Roberts, 1994; Peplau, 1997; Skogstad, 1997) and there is again a growing interest in opportunities to attend to the emotional development of nursing students (Goodrich and Cornwell, 2008; Francis, 2013; Snowden et. al, 2015). Good emotional awareness is a skill that can be taught, cultivated and continually refined throughout the course of professional training yet it remains an under appreciated area of explicit education in comparison to other clinical aspects of nursing work (Scott, 2004; Smith, 2012).

It has been raised within the School that there have been a notable, but as yet unexamined, number of Counselling and Psychotherapy students that have come from a nursing background. These students are ideally placed to identify contemporary areas for developing interdisciplinary learning. While there is already general course evaluation and student feedback that occurs within the boundaries of each department, the interdisciplinary opportunities that could be enhanced across the departments have not been explored. We do not know how a course of study undertaken in the Counselling and Psychotherapy department impacts on the students’ nursing practice.

This project intends to understand the experience of studying in one professional field (Counselling and Psychotherapy) with the explicit intention of identifying and defining the shape and scope of new, innovative and professionally pertinent curricular developments in another (Nursing Studies).

The overall research question of this project is "Which aspects of counselling and psychotherapy theory, education and training could usefully be integrated into nurse education?" This project is intended as an idea generating study and as such intends to elucidate not only what aspects were useful, but why they proved useful and in what way, so as to help inspire curricular developments that will be professionally significant for contemporary nursing students.

The early design and methodology of the project have been undertaken by a small group of staff. A team of staff and students from both Nursing Studies and the Counselling and Psychotherapy department will carry out data collection, analysis and formation of recommendations.

The data generated will be examined using voice centred relational analysis. While there are many service user feedback methodologies, this method can assist in the interpretation of complex feedback by elucidating the individual, group and social factors that nuance learning experiences, their evaluation, and the expression of these (Fairtlough, 2007).

The information gained in this project will inform teaching approaches and curriculum developments through guiding future teaching and learning research projects and grant applications, enhancing their impact value by founding them on a base of professional relevance and practical application as identified by students and nursing practitioners.

Preliminary dissemination will be through a round table discussion, open to all members of both departments. This will facilitate a renewal of interdisciplinary networks amongst the departments, maximising the potential for novel approaches to be developed. Information will be made available on the school web pages.

This project will run over a five month period from June to October 2015.

References
Fairtlough, A.C. (2007). Adapting the voice-centred relational method of data analysis: reading trainees’ accounts of their learning on a pilot programme for practitioners working with parents. Learning in Health and Social Care. 6, 1, 2–13

Francis, R. (2013). Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry. London: The Stationery office.

Goodrich, J. and Cornwell, J. (2008). Seeing the person in the patient – The point of Care review paper. The Kings Fund. London

Menzies Lyth, E. (1988). The functioning of social systems as a defence against anxiety. In containing anxiety and institutions: selected essays, volume one. London: free association books.

Obholzer, A. and Zagier Roberts, V. (1994). The Unconscious at Work: Individual and Organizational Stress in the Human Services. Routledge. London.

Peplau, H. E. (1997). Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations. Nursing Science Quarterly, 10, 162-167.

Robertson, J. (1971). Young children in brief separation – a fresh look. Psychoanalytic study of the child. 26: 264-315.

Scott, H. (2004). ‘Are nurses “Too Clever To Care” and “Too Posh To Wash?”’ British Journal of Nursing. 13, 10, 581.

Skogstad, W. (1997). Working in a world of bodies, defensive techniques on a medical ward – a psychoanalytical observation. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy. 11 (3):221-41.

Smith, P. (2012). The Emotional Labour of Nursing Revisited. (2nd Ed.) Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Snowden A, Stenhouse R, Young J, et al. (2015) The relationship between emotional intelligence, previous caring experience and mindfulness in student nurses and midwives: a cross sectional analysis. Nurse Education Today. 35(1) 152-158

Good emotional awareness is a skill that can be taught, cultivated and continually refined throughout the course of professional training yet it remains an under appreciated area of explicit education in comparison to other clinical aspects of nursing work.
Acknowledging the historic precedent of interdisciplinary exchanges between nursing and psychotherapy, and the benefit this has had in understanding the emotional impact of nursing practice, this project intends to understand the experience of studying in one professional field (Counselling and Psychotherapy) with the explicit intention of identifying and defining the shape and scope of new, innovative and professionally pertinent curricular developments in another (Nursing Studies).
A small team of staff and students from both departments will use voice centred relational analysis to examine data gained through two discussion groups. Past and present interdisciplinary students (Counselling and Psychotherapy students who have a nursing background) will be invited
to explore their journey to, through and beyond their course of study in the Counselling and Psychotherapy department. It is intended as an idea generating study and therefore intends to identify not only what aspects were useful, but why they proved useful and in what way (how).
The information gained will be disseminated through a round table discussion, open to all members of both departments and will be used to inform curriculum development through guiding future teaching and learning research projects and grant applications, enhancing their impact value by founding them on a base of professional relevance and practical application as identified by students and practitioners.