Dramatic insights: A report of the effects of a dramatic production on the learning of student nurses during their mental health course component

Abstract

Drama, like nursing, concerns itself with the human condition and finds its resonance in an empathetic response to the person-to-person connection. As part of their clinical experience in the mental health component of their undergraduate nursing course, 80 student nurses attended the play Bearing Witness written by the authors and produced as a joint Faculty production between the Faculty of Nursing and the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. The play charts and interweaves the paths to healing of two people following incestuous abuse for one, and political torture for the other, and poses questions to the audience concerning the intent and effects of abuse, and the place and value of forgiveness and forgiving. Some 4-5 months afterwards the students were invited to participate in hour-long, semi-structured interviews to investigate the persistent impressions of the play, the students' perceptions of the themes and relevance and the effect of the play on their learning and development as nurses. The seven students who took part in the interviews expressed that their feelings of empathy and identification with the situation of the characters in the play had a greater impact on their learning than other methods of instruction they had evaluated, particularly in terms of the persistence and processing of the subjective experience. Other notable themes were that of forgiveness, its value in healing and the implications for nursing, and an appreciation of the 'spiritual component' of the total learning experience.

Effectiveness of arts interventions to reduce mental-health-related stigma among youth: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Of the 57 included studies, 43 quantitative studies, six qualitative studies [73][74][75][76][77][78] and eight mixed methods studies [79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] were identified. Data from 57 studies (by intervention type) on sample size, participant profile, study design, intervention description, duration and frequency, number of follow-ups, and outcomes related to knowledge (K), attitude (A) and actual/ intended behaviour (B) are summarised in Table 1.…”

A research approach for co‐designing education with healthcare consumers

“…Other humanities‐based education includes narratives using doctor and patient stories to promote more patient or relationship‐focused care, 20 and consumer storytelling in mental health education, 21 including memoirs which have the potential to create the ‘emotional pull to surprise learners and reawaken empathy and compassion’ 22 . (p.71) Research‐based and theatre arts strategies are also being used, 23‐26 which Rossiter and colleagues 27 assert is an underutilised medium for the interpretation, translation and dissemination of research findings. In addition, rich pictures 28 and visual thinking strategies (VTS) are increasingly being used as student‐centred learning methods in HPE.…”

The use and application of drama in nursing education — An integrative review of the literature

“…The exception was the article by Bates (2013) where midwifery students participated together with undergraduate students. In three different articles drama was used in or prior to the clinical experience in the mental health field (Buxton, 2011;McGarry and Aubeeluc, 2013;Welch and Welch, 2008). The other 17 articles presented significant differences in the nature and structure of courses where drama education was used.…”

“…Other locations included a ballroom (Newcomb, 2007), a small theater (Tuxbury et al, 2012) and a designated mass care evacuation shelter (Austin et al, 2013). There were also examples where drama was conducted in an emergency care setting (Ekebergh et al, 2004;Ekebergh, 2005), in an educational ward setting (Ekebergh et al, 2004;Ekebergh, 2005) or on stage at an external theater (Welch and Welch, 2008).…”

“…In another project (McAlinden, 2010) nursing students watched a short play about suicide, written and performed by volunteers from the Belfast branch of the Samaritans. In the article by Welch and Welch (2008) the students viewed a play written by nursing staff and produced together with the University Drama department. This play was a commercial production.…”