Using the Narrative Reflective Process to explore how students learn about caring in their nursing program: an arts-informed Narrative Inquiry

Although caring is one of the integral aspects of nursing practice and education, it is often left assumed and loosely threaded through the curricula. In this arts-informed Narrative Inquiry we asked nursing students how they define caring and how we could teach it. We engaged students in the Narrative Reflective Process (NRP), a creative multi-step self-expression activity that includes stories, metaphors, drawing and creative writing, followed by a group narrative interview. The outcome of this study reveals that students see caring as going beyond the expectations; receiving care is a challenge; and caring can be augmented in the nursing school through reflection on practice situations with links to theories of caring. The implication for education is to choose a caring framework which allows creative reflection and critical dialogue among students and teachers. This paper also provides an example of how NRP can be used to foster creative reflection on caring within nursing programs.