The preparation of child health nurses in sexual health education: An exploratory study
Introduction
Many policy imperatives state that nurses should be tackling the issues around sexual health. “A Scottish Framework for Nursing in Schools” (Scottish Executive, 2003) clearly documents the nature of the nursing service that should be delivered to children and young people in Scottish schools. It recommends that nurses working in schools should support teachers in the planning, implementation and delivery of sex education programmes. “Respect and Responsibility: strategy and action plan for improving sexual health” (Scottish Executive, 2005a, Scottish Executive, 2005b) states that it is vital that sex and relationships education is supported by accessible health services for young people and recommends that NHS Education for Scotland will, in conjunction with practitioners, develop training and resources to enable the further extension of nurse-led sexual health services in primary and secondary care. “Delivering a Healthy Future: An Action Framework for Children and Young People’s Health in Scotland” (Scottish Executive, 2007) suggests that NHS staff working with children should have access to diverse, tailored education, which needs to start pre-qualification and continue throughout their professional career.
Section snippets
Background
Scotland along with the rest of the United Kingdom continues to have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe (Scottish Executive, 2007). The target, set by the Government, is to reduce the pregnancy rate by 20% (per 1000 population) in 13–15 year olds from 8.5 in 1995 to 6.8 by 2010 (Scottish Executive, 2007). Due to the continuing rise of teenage pregnancies and rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), much work has been conducted regarding interventions in the
Literature review
The initial review of the literature was undertaken by searching the key databases of CINAHL, MEDLINE and British Nursing Index. A variety of search terms were used individually and in combination. These included: sex education, health promotion, nursing, children and young people, nurse education and pre-registration curriculum. The search time-frame spanned 10 years (1997–2007). It was predominantly UK literature, which was accessed in an attempt to look at the issues from a national
Design
The aim of the study was to explore the student nurse’s lived experiences of the nature, type and experience of educational provision they gained during their undergraduate programme therefore the phenomenological method was used. A phenomenological approach to qualitative research is thought to be a rigorous, critical and systematic investigation of phenomena (Bryman, 2008). The goal of phenomenology is to describe the lived experience and for the purposes of this study this will be the input
Data analysis
The focus groups were conducted by the researcher and audio-taped. The latter were then transcribed and analysed. Colaizzi’s framework (1978) was adopted, as the process and procedural steps provided were transparent and easily followed. A thematic approach to data analysis was used to uncover the nature and meaning of the experiences. This was carried out in conjunction with the short field notes taken following the focus groups, which indicated body language and facial expressions.
Findings
The following four themes emerged from data analysis.
Discussion
It is clear from the findings of this study, that the students had a wide variety of experiences of sexual health education both out on practice placements and as part of their pre-registration nurse education. The experiences were inconsistent and the quality of their experiences depended on a variety of things.
The student’s experiences of sexual health education when they themselves were at School were very different compared to the contemporary experiences they observed whilst on placement,
Limitations
There were a few limitations to this study, which may have influenced the findings. One was the relationship between the researcher and the participants. As the researcher was well known to the students and had formed a good relationship with them over three years, the students may have felt able to speak more openly and freely. On the contrary the fact that the researcher and participants were so familiar with each other may have inhibited or restricted the rich and in-depth nature of the
Conclusions
The aim of this study was to explore the nature, type and experience of educational provision student nurses gain during their undergraduate programme to help them deal effectively with the sexual health needs of children and young people with whom they are involved. The findings indicate that students had a wide variety of experiences of sexual health education both on practice placements and as part of their pre-registration nurse education. The experiences were inconsistent and the variety
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