The Mandala: First-Year Undergraduate Nursing Students' Learning Experiences

• Published in: International journal of nursing education scholarship 2012-12, Vol.9 (1), p.16 pages-16 pages
• Main Authors: Mahar, Diane J., Iwasiw, Carroll L., Evans, Marilyn K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anecdotes as Topic; Assignment; Attitude to Health; Cognitive style; Discovery; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate - methods; emotion; Female; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Interprofessional Relations; Learning; Learning strategies; Male; mandala; Medical education; Nurse tutors; Nurse's Role - psychology; Nursing; Nursing education; Ontario; Personal development; Phenomenology; Psychologists; reflection; Reflective practice; Self Efficacy; Self-Assessment; Selfawareness; Selfreflection; Socialization; Spirituality; Students, Nursing - psychology; Symbolism; Undergraduate students; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1548-923X; 2194-5772; 1548-923X
• DOI: 10.1515/1548-923X.2313

The mandala is a circular art form used by psychologists to access subconscious thought through symbolism and it has recently been adopted by nurse educators as a learning strategy for self-awareness. The lived experiences of six first-year undergraduate nursing students who completed a mandala assignment for emotional learning were explored using hermeneutic phenomenology. Participants experiences diverged from their original expectations that the mandala assignment would allow for a fun and free expression of ‘self’. Participants did describe experiences of self-discovery; however, their experiences also resembled those associated with socialization in nursing education. Participants described both self-reflection and critical-reflection while completing the mandala assignment. Nurse educators and researchers can gain insight regarding the use of this assignment as an integrated transformative learning approach for emotional learning.