Peer Instructors and MentorsAnother strategy clinical nursing faculty can use todecrease student nurse anxiety in the clinical learningenvironment is peer instruction and mentoring. Teachingassistants in disciplines such as chemistry, biology, andother natural sciences at the college level is not a newconcept. Generally, a graduate student or a junior-level orsenior-level student with a major in science acts as an assistantto the professor for freshman and sophomore students.These teaching assistants help novice students setup and perform experiments, assess results, and maintainsafety in the laboratory (Becker & Neuwirth, 2002). Borrowingthis teaching method from the natural sciences,Becker and Neuwirth (2002) developed a clinical laboratoryteaching assistant role with beginning-level nursingstudents at a small private college to evaluate the effectson student anxiety in the clinical learning environment.Senior-level nursing students completing all medicalsurgicalclinical rotations and in good academic standingwere selected by nursing faculty. These students were assignedto help junior-level faculty on a general surgicalfloor during the first day of a 2-day clinical experience.The teaching assistants helped clinical students with datacollection, technical skills, and flow sheet and computerdocumentation, and they also answered questions. Evaluationof this program showed a significant decrease innursing student anxiety and, as a result, 87% of the studentsreported improved clinical performance.A similar study was done by Sprengel and Job (2004),but participants were freshman-level students in a 4-year nursing program. This study looked at the stressexperienced by students in their first clinical experience.Twenty-eight freshman students enrolled in a fundamentalscourse were paired with sophomore students enrolledin a medical-surgical course. Each freshman worked witha sophomore student throughout the day with the guidanceof a faculty member from each course. Results fromthis study showed an overwhelming positive responsefrom freshman students in terms of decreasing anxietylevels during their first clinical experience. However, becausepeer mentoring involved only 1 clinical day, the effectivenessin decreasing anxiety was short term, whichplaced limitations on this study.Owens and Walden (2001) conducted a study to decreaseundergraduate nursing student anxiety in the clinicallearning environment. Their study used peer instructionas a means of providing intense practice opportunitiesfrom individuals who would be perceived as less threateningthan faculty. Although similar to the studies doneby Sprengel and Job (2004) and by Becker and Neuwirth(2002), the setting was a skills laboratory, rather than aclinical learning environment. A senior-level nursing studentwas hired to work in the learning laboratory in a baccalaureatenursing program. The student was given thesalary-compensated position of Peer Instructor. The peerinstructor was responsible for supervising students duringskill practice, helping students identify the need for skillremediation, and helping instructors prepare skill testing.During a 3-year period, results from a Likert-type evaluationshowed 69% of students responded affirmatively tothe question, “Did the use of peer instructor’s services helpreduce your anxiety?” (Owens & Walden, 2001, p. 376). Althoughthis study did not directly implement peer instructorsin the clinical learning environment, the results supportpeer instructors as an effective strategy in decreasinganxiety among undergraduate nursing students.Mentoring by nursing personnel is another strategyused by undergraduate nursing programs to decreasestress and anxiety among nursing students in the clinicallearning environment. A study conducted by Lockenand Norberg (2005) used a mentored triad consisting of afaculty member, an RN, and a nursing student. The studyfollowed students through the second and third semestersof a five-semester nursing program. Half of the studentstook part in the mentored program, whereas others wentthrough the traditional kind of clinical education. Thementored students worked with a staff nurse for the entireclinical rotation based on the mentor’s work schedule,and faculty made visits at the beginning and periodicallythroughout the rotation. Locken and Norberg (2005)concluded that student anxiety was significantly reducedbecause students gained control over their schedules,established a trusting relationship with their mentors,and experienced an increase in skill practice and performance.Peer instruction and mentoring are interventionalstrategies that can be implemented at all educational levelsand in all kinds of undergraduate nursing programs.Although studies conducted on peer instruction do not involvesenior-level students, faculty can use other qualifiedseniors as peer instructors to support seniors experiencinganxiety. However, using peers at the same educationallevel to act as instructors can result in students feelinguncomfortable or embarrassed accepting help from fellowstudents. In terms of the Neuman Systems Model, peer instructorsand mentoring programs are considered primaryprevention, with the goal of protecting students’ normalline of defense. It is possible for undergraduate nursingprograms to implement peer instruction on an as-neededbasis or as a secondary prevention. In this case, a peer instructoris brought into the clinical learning environmentto help those students identified as experiencing anxiety.Using peer instructors in this way will strengthen the linesof resistance and defense and promote reconstitution.Mindfulness TrainingJon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts developedthe Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)program. This program is used with more than 10,000medical patients and is beneficial for a variety of medicalconditions, including anxiety (Newsome, Christopher,Dahlen, & Christopher, 2006). Mindfulness, a Buddhistconcept, is based on fostering awareness, with the objectiveof helping people live each moment of their lives andbeing present in whatever the experience is at a particularmoment (Newsome et al., 2006). Participants in anJanuary 2009, Vol. 48, No. 1 21decreasing student anxietyMBSR program experience three forms of practice: yoga,meditation, and a body-scan awareness exercise. A varietyof practices are available in MBSR programs to meet theneeds of all individuals, which supports the concept personin the Neuman Systems Model. For example, accordingto Kabat-Zinn (as cited in Newsome et al., 2006), individualsdisplaying physical symptoms of anxiety prefermeditation and those experiencing cognitive anxiety suchas racing thoughts or difficulty concentrating prefer yoga.Individuals enrolled in an MBSR program are instructedto attend to the present moment, observe and be awareof breathing, have an internal focus, and pay attention totheir surroundings and the tasks at hand (Beddoe & Murphy,2004).
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..