Student nurses experience of a “fairy garden” healing haven garden for sick children

• Published in: Nurse education today 2017-12, Vol.59, p.88-93
• Main Authors: van der Riet, Pamela, Jitsacorn, Chaweewan, Junlapeeya, Piyatida, Thursby, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitude of Health Personnel; Australia; Belief & doubt; Biomedical models; Children; Childrens health; Clinical outcomes; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate - methods; Environment; Fantasy; Female; Freedoms; Gardens - standards; Healing; Healing environment; Health care; Holistic Approach; Hospitalization; Hospitals, Pediatric - organization & administration; Hospitals, Pediatric - standards; Humans; Male; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing care; Nursing education; Nursing Students; Pediatric nursing; Professionalism; Qualitative Research; Quality of life; Sick children; Students; Students, Nursing - psychology; Thailand; Time
• ISSN: 0260-6917; 1532-2793
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2017.09.002

The concept and philosophy of healing environments in health care is not new and there has been recent research into the experience of nurses and families experience of healing environments producing positive outcomes in relieving stress and improving quality of life. However, there is little in-depth information about student nurse's experience of healing environments in support of patients. To report on the stories of student nurses who participated in formal and informal activities in a healing haven environment called a Fairy Garden (FG) within a hospital in northern Thailand. Their beliefs about the care of sick children in an environment designed to provide educational and recreational activity during hospital care are explored. Narrative inquiry, a qualitative methodology was selected to capture the main threads of the participants' experience. Clandinin's narrative inquiry framework involving the three commonality dimensions of sociality, temporality and place were used in analysing the data. Sixty-two student nurses from a Thai College of Nursing and from an Australian university were interviewed. In this study the place of a FG has been investigated as a non-clinical environment providing sick children with exposure to nature, play activities and spaces to explore. Findings include three main threads: freedom to be a child not a sick child, engaging in care and professionalism, a moment in time of living fantasy. Student nurses in this study had a broader understanding of health care other than the biomedical model. It transformed their learning and opened their eyes to a more holistic approach to humanising care of sick children. •Nursing students experience of the Fairy Garden healing haven have shifted from a purely biomedical model of care to a more humanistic ecological model.•Student experience of the fairy Garden offers an ecological paradigm in line with Dewey's theory of experience in that students are immersed in the continuity of the Fairy Garden as experience.•Past present and future coalesce in thinking about learning.•Narrative enquiry findings and student experience reveal an ontological orientation to nursing student’s knowledge development.