Abstract
The holistic health care also known as comprehensive care is based on total patient care. Holistic health care considers the physical, emotional, social, economic, and spiritual needs of the persons. Nurses must incorporate holistic care while caring for their patients. As nurses, we must take care of our patients and by doing so we must understand holistic care. This study looked at college nursing students understanding of holistic health care. A total of 128 students were asked to participate. They were from different levels of nursing courses. The participants were given a questionnaire with six multiple choice questions. Each student were to circle the best answer. The results of this experiment showed that the fifth semester of nursing students had a better understanding of holistic health care than the third and first semester. This supports research topics on higher levels of nursing and better interpretation of holistic health care. Remember as nurses, we must take care of our patients and by doing so we must understand holistic care.
Introduction
The holistic health care also known as comprehensive care (Anderson, Anderson & Glaze, 1994) is based on total patient care. "Holistic health care considers the physical, emotional, social, economic, and spiritual needs of the person (Anderson, Anderson & Glaze, 1994)." A nurse should also consider the response a patient has to their illness, and also the person`s ability to meet self-care needs.
In holistic health care, "the nurse is a companion who alternatively supports and challenges" (Barbosa da Silva & Hummelvoll, 1994). As nurses, we must encourage patients to live life as meaningful as possible. We must encourage patients who are ill or debilitated, to get well and continue life. By doing this, we must focus on our patient as a whole, not just the individual`s disease (Barbosa da Silva & Hummelvoll. 19940. In this view, nursing must be seen as a multi-dimensional health field.
As a multi-dimensional health field, nursing must meet "the health needs of individuals as integrated persons rather than as a biological systems" (American Nurses` Association, 1980). Hertz (1996) suggests that nurses define health in a way that incorporates integrated persons with holistic processes.
Today, holistic processes is seen in psychiatric nursing (Andrea, Mantas, Priami, and Raya, 1991). In psychiatric nursing, several areas are assessed within an individual. For example; personal hygiene, hygiene of environment, nutritional care, communication, emotional appropriateness, etc. As you can see, psychiatric nursing involves the whole person, not just one area. This type of assessment in nursing is a holistic process.
Although psychiatric nursing uses a holistic process, it does not mean other areas use a different model of nursing care. Actually nurses should incorporate holism in their health care. As nurses, we must take care of our patients and by doing so we must understand holistic care.
Past research (Bartol & Eakes, 1995) indicates that nurses most likely to have a holistic interpretation of the term psychosomatic, have a Master`s degree in nursing or higher. In respect, psychosomatic means the interrelatedness between the mind and body in all states of health and illness (Lipowski, 1986).
Understanding that holistic health care is usually interpreted by a higher level of education leads me into the purpose for this experiment. Will nursing students have a better interpretation of holistic health care in the later as opposed to earlier semesters of nursing courses?
Method
I collected my data from five levels of nursing courses at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Mo. A total of 128 participants were used in the study.
Apparatus/Materials
The researcher developed a questionnaire to be used for this experiment. The questionnaire contained six, multiple choice questions as shown for example:
What is another name for Comprehensive Health Care?
A. Imaginary
B. Functional Interpretation
C. Holistic
D. Structural
The first question asked the participant their level of nursing. In the second question, the term psychosomatic medicine was asked to be best describe by one of the four choices. Third, viewing nursing as multi-dimensional. Fourth is understanding the holistic model of nursing by providing support and challenges to patients. The fifth question entails the type of nursing skills. Last is understanding that there is another name for holistic health care.
Procedure
The questionnaires were handed out to the participants in their classes. They were told that no name was required. They were asked to circle the best answer for each question. Then the questionnaires were collected from the participants. I debriefed the participants about the experiment and asked if they had any questions at this time. The researcher thanked them for their time and then departed the classroom.
ResultThe results were calculated using inferential statistics. The researcher used a one-way ANOVA which was done for any significance between the levels of nursing semesters. The averages for each semester of nursing are as listed, first semester-3.1429, second semester-3.4194, third semester-3.0526, fourth semester-3.7273, and last the fifth semester-3.9000. The overall results of the experiment were that the fifth semester nursing students had a greater understanding of holistic health care than the first and third semester classes with a significance of (F(4.125)=3.516, p <.01.
Discussion
In this study, I looked at the different levels of nursing semesters at Missouri Western State College. I wanted to show that the higher the level of nursing courses, the greater understanding of holistic health care in nursing the students exhibit through the use of a questionnaire.
Most of the research which I reviewed entailed information about the different levels of nursing degrees. Past research (Bartol & Eakes, 1995) indicates that nurses most likely to have a holistic interpretation of the term psychosomatic, have a Master`s degree in nursing of higher. I was not sure the results would be somewhat the same in situations of levels of nursing courses. As I hoped the experiment ended in the same positive way. In which the fifth or last semester of nursing was significantly greater than the first and third semesters; also stated in my results.
There were a few limitations to my study, which were not all the students attended class the day the questionnaire was handed out. Also some of the students asked each other if they knew the answers to certain questions.
My results of this experiment supports all the research done on the topic. Although the study took a different aspect of levels of nursing, it clearly states that the higher of education provides students with a better interpretation of holistic health care.
As nurses or future nurses we must take care of our patients and by doing so we must understand holistic care. This is important in life, because how can we practice something without understanding or knowing the topic.
For future research, I would like to have a larger, more extensive questionnaire to hand out to nursing classes. Also research I had read indicated there was also a difference in understanding holistic health care. I would like to incorporate in future research of any differences among genders.
Refferences
Andrea, S., Mantas, J., Priami, M., & Raya, A. (1991). Psychosomatic nursing assessment of psychiatric patients. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 56, 5-11.
Anderson, K.N., Anderson, L. E., & Glanxe, W. D. (Ed.). (1994). Mosby`s medical, nursing, & allied health dictionary (4th ed.). Mosby-Year book, Inc.
Barbosa da Silva, A., & Hummelvoll, J. (1994). A holistic-existential model for psychiatric nursing. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 30, 7-14.
Bartol, G., & Eakes, G. (1995). A study of the meanings assigned to the term psychosomatic among health professionals. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care,31, 24-29.
Hertz, J. E. (1996). Conceptualization of perceived enactment of autonomy in the elderly. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 17, 261-273.
Lipowski, Z. (1986). Psychosomatic medicine in the seventies: An overview. In O. Hill (Ed.), Modern trends in psychosomatic medicine (pp.89-121). Boston: Butlerworths.
Source: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/22.asp?logon=&code=