Abstract
Purpose: To clearly identify the process by which students can learn how to provide nursing care from the children's point of view during their pediatric nursing practice.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 nursing students and the data were interpreted and analyzed based on the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA).
Result: The results indicated that there were 29 different concepts generated in the students' learning process. These fall into 7 categories: “anxiety and expectations,” “anxiety over the future,” “adjusting the approach distance with patients,” “promoted understanding of children,” “enhanced desire to assist patients,” “taking action to respond to patients' needs,” and “realizing one's personal growth.” In addition, it was found that “adjusting the approach distance with patients,” “promoted understanding of children,” and “enhanced desire to assist patients” are the core categories in the learning process, and that these are pivotal factors in enabling the students to shift their views to provide care from the children's point of view. Accordingly, we have constructed a diagram that clearly explains the structure of the learning process. In this process, the students experienced a “sense of connection with the children,” which ultimately allowed the students to provide pediatric care from the children's point of view.
Conclusion: The concepts and categories inherent in the learning process that the constructed diagram explains can be used to understand the status of a student's stage in the learning process, and can also be used as a key to provide students with more efficient support for their learning.
