〔Purpose〕This study aimed to clarify changes in the use of nursing skills by nursing students during the home nursing practice component of their studies before and after a curriculum change and to evaluate the effects of that curriculum change.

〔Methods〕Participants were fourth-year students in the department of nursing of a university who provided consent. Two groups were investigated: 120 students in 2014, before the curriculum change; and 88 students in 2015, after the curriculum change. Participants were asked to complete an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire regarding the number of times they had experienced certain nursing skills （13 categories, 71 items）, either through observation or actual use during home nursing practice. Item values were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test for frequency of skill observation and for frequency of skill use （alone or under instructor supervision）.

〔Results〕The survey response rate was 75.8% in 2014 and 81.8% in 2015. Participants reported experiencing a total of 69 nursing skills （95.8%） during home nursing practice. Results from the 2015 survey indicated significant increases in the frequency of student use of skills across six categories: 《Excretion care》, 《Activity care: rest and transferring》, 《Hygiene and personal care》, 《Dosage care and observation》, 《Monitoring biogenic function》 and 《Infection control》.

〔Discussion〕The curriculum change allowed for earlier implementation of home nursing education during the students’ course of study, and it also allowed for students to engage in a home nursing seminar before beginning the practical component; the results of the study suggest that the new curriculum produced a definite improvement in clinical nursing competence among nursing students.

〔Purpose〕This study aims to reveal how to best facilitate the learning of nursing students during maternal nurse practicum, by drawing on their own childbirth and child-rearing experiences. In addition, we examine how such experiences shape the students’ learning processes and their ability to demonstrate empathy during patient interactions.

〔Method〕This study adopts a grounded theory approach to analyze 15 interviews of 3rd year nursing students’ with firsthand experience with both childbirth and raising children. The interviews were conducted after the students underwent maternal health nursing practicum at a private hospital in Japan.

〔Results〕12 categories of nursing students’ learning structures were identified as a result of this research: not wanting to go, thinking it would be a fun experience, retrospectively comparing own experiences as mothers, not wanting patients to undergo the same experience, feeling empathetic, feeling jealous or inferior, drawing on own experience, feeling difficulty providing support, refusing to abandon their preconceptions, holding a negative identity of themselves as mothers, rebuilding their own identities as mothers, and having their nursing identity affected.

〔Discussion〕 The findings of this study suggest that additional measures must be adopted to support nursing students who possess firsthand experience with childbirth and raising children. Such training could help to prevent students from superimposing their own experiences on their patients and raise the level of empathy students are able to provide during patient interactions.

〔Purpose〕To clarify and discuss the characteristics of learning needs of assistants at nursing universities and junior colleges.

〔Methods〕Questionnaires on the attributes investigation and learning needs papers were distributed to 294 assistants at nursing universities and junior colleges throughout Japan. Individual respondents returned the questionnaire anonymously by postal mail. Respondents’ answers were analyzed using content analysis employed in nursing education with reference to the technique developed by Berelson.

〔Results〕 A total of 182 completed questionnaires were returned （61.9% response rate）, of which 141 were valid. Analysis of the valid questionnaires revealed 31 categories representing the learning needs of assistants, including “knowledge necessary to promote research activities,” “knowledge and skill necessary to design lessons by the type of class,” and “knowledge and skill necessary to provide guidance that promotes students’ active learning.”

〔Discussion〕The present findings suggest that the 31 learning needs of assistants were typically structured into seven compositions, including “self-implementation of research and research guidance for students,” and “designing and organizing lessons necessary to develop classes and evaluation of this.”