Nursing students’ attitudes toward patient-centred care in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Background : Respecting the uniqueness of each individual as part of person-centred approach is central to the provision of high quality nursing care. Valuing people as individuals with different needs and aspirations are attitudes to care-giving that student nurses need to develop. There is however, a scarcity of literature which focuses on assessment of student nurses’ patient-centred attitudes. Aim : To examine patient-centred attitudes among pre-registration nursing students. Design : A validated survey tool developed by Rolfe was used to measure the patient centred attitudes of nursing students in a U.K. University. Methods : The patient-centred attitudes of 149 student nurses were measured using a Patient-Centred Multi-Choice Questionnaire. Standard descriptive analyses were performed. Results : Female student nurses (n=119) undertaking undergraduate pre-registration nurse education, 20- to 29- years-old and in their third year of study dominated the sample group. The mean Patient-Centred Multi-Choice Questionnaire scores for the majority of the sample groups fell within the noticeably therapeutic attitude range. Those that scored highest within the noticeably therapeutic attitude range were males, under 20- years-old, second-year students and students studying children’s health. Conclusion: The relatively high levels of patient-centred attitudes which were evidenced, particularly the results from the male students, is reassuring. The conclusions drawn have implications for nurse recruitment strategies, assessment of prospective student patient-centred attitudes and the teaching, learning and assessment strategies deployed by nurse educators.