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Care‐givers’ reflections on an ethics education immersive simulation care experience: A series of epiphanous events
Author(s) -
Gallagher Ann,
Peacock Matthew,
Zasada Magdalena,
Coucke Trees,
Cox Anna,
Janssens Nele
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
nursing inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.66
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1800
pISSN - 1320-7881
DOI - 10.1111/nin.12174
Subject(s) - dignity , psychological intervention , scholarship , meaning (existential) , nursing ethics , ethics of care , vulnerability (computing) , psychology , informed consent , nursing , medical education , medicine , political science , psychotherapist , alternative medicine , computer security , pathology , psychiatry , computer science , law
There has been little previous scholarship regarding the aims, options and impact of ethics education on residential care‐givers. This manuscript details findings from a pragmatic cluster trial evaluating the impact of three different approaches to ethics education. The focus of the article is on one of the interventions, an immersive simulation experience. The simulation experience required residential care‐givers to assume the profile of elderly care‐recipients for a 24‐hr period. The care‐givers were student nurses. The project was reviewed favourably by a university ethics committee, and participants provided informed consent. Data from six postsimulation experience focus groups were analysed thematically and three themes were identified: the experience of vulnerability, dignity in care and the organisation of care. Findings suggest that the immersive simulation experience had a powerful immediate impact as participants described epiphanous insights relating to their care experiences. It is suggested that reflecting on and recording epiphanous events has the potential to sustain ethical care practices. Further research is required to evaluate the impact of different ethics education interventions in different cultural contexts. Exploration is also required regarding the meaning and significance of care epiphanies, those “most delicate and evanescent of moments,” for the sustainability of ethical care.