Integrative Nursing: - a framework for ‘the nurse I want to be’. Students’ experiences and evaluations of a six-week course at the 7th semester

Background:
Currently, a common European approach on how to educate healthcare professionals on complementary and non-pharmacological interventions for symptom management and its integration in nursing curricula is non-existent. Nurses have reported that a main barrier to apply integrative nursing is the lack of formal education.
The Integrative Nursing Education Series (INES) project was an EU funded project that aimed at improving education for nursing students on integrative nursing and the use of complementary non-pharmacological interventions by developing an evidence-based framework.
An elective course about integrative nursing following the structure, content and learning goals by the INES project is currently given at VIA University College at the 7th semester.
Aim:
How does nursing students experience and evaluate their competencies, approaches, and attitudes after completing a 6-week course about Integrative Nursing?
Method:
Thirty-nine nursing students completed the course running in spring and fall 2023 and twelve students gave content to participate in individual semi-structured interviews at the end of the course period. The study is guided by a hermeneutic approach and data analysis and interpretation follows the steps and principals of inductive content analysis.
Results:
Five preliminary findings were identified: “Integrative Nursing gives a new patient perspective”, Selfcare as a new way of being more human”, “Integrative nursing as a framework for the nurse I want to be”, “Non-pharmacological Interventions and wellbeing” and “Learning through bodily experience and shared reflections”.
Conclusion:
Nursing students experience Integrative Nursing as a framework for understanding themselves as human beings and understanding themselves as being nurses. The attention to the self-care dimension working with Integrative Nursing makes nursing students more aware of the importance of a holistic approach in nursing care and furthermore an awareness to the small things in life – both when meeting themselves as human beings as well as nurses. Participating in the six-week course working with and understanding Integrative Nursing is a life-changing experience for nursing students. Furthermore, bringing these perspectives into nursing care has great value for nursing students when finding their own way in nursing.