Working with our practice partner, the Tranquility Wellness Room project goal is to integrate self-care practices and strategies within the clinical site to alleviate stress-induced emotional and mental exhaustion among nursing students and hospital staff. Guided by Jean Watson’s Human Caring Science and Caritas Processes®, this initiative seeks to cultivate Caritas Literacy in the student nurse and nurses in the facility to sustain their human caring spirit and as they engage in delivering compassionate care through caring-healing relationship. The room also features a Tree of Life where students and staff post positive affirmations, fostering a supportive environment for well-being.
In response to the need for addressing test anxiety, fostering resilience, and promoting focus during testing occasions, creative strategies were implemented. One or two of the following activities were implemented prior to the start of the test for each testing occasion.
A majority of the students found each of the activities described above as very or extremely helpful; however, the mindfulness taste activity was rated very helpful by over 85% of the students.
Feedback from Students: “Faculty cared for our mental health and provided ways for us to ease our anxieties before each quiz and exam.” “Stressed the importance of self-care and I really valued that as well. We were able to have a better student-life balance.”
Feedback from Faculty: “The activities transformed the classroom’s inherent stressful testing environment to one that allowed students to relax and focus.”
Students were given a journal at the start of the semester. Each student picked out the color of the composition notebook for their journal. Students were instructed to journal privately and to address the following three areas for the class.
The intentionality of engaging in Reflective Practice on one’s self-care practices or lack thereof allowed students to become conscious of the effect on themselves and the care provided.
Examples of Student Reflections:
“This self-reflection on self-care gave me satisfaction, a little bit of confidence in myself and a space for improvement. …when I reflect on myself and think of what I am grateful for, I am reflecting on what kind of care I provide to my patients, how I can improve them to be better and knowing this can give me happiness, satisfaction.”
“The impact of self-care this week is important for myself and my future patients. Knowing what I am grateful for helps me think of making a positive impact on others. I want to be a compassionate nurse.”
Cultivating Caritas Literacy: Authentic Presence through Intentionality and Mindfulness - This strategy is guided by the curriculum’s nursing disciplinary knowledge anchored in the Caring Sciences. Students engaged in weekly intentional meditations before class. A new meditation practice with narrative was introduced to help provide self-care and well-being with resilience to stressors. Students were introduced to stress relief aromatherapy and various aromatherapy based on visual imagery techniques utilized depending on the week.
“Students were asked to develop their personalized self-care plans where they can include self-care activities that can be incorporated in their daily and weekly routines” – Cecelia Fernan, Assistant Professor of Nursing
Write a Daily Prescription for Your Self-Care and Well-Being Concepts: Well-being, self-care Caritas Processes® -
This class activity was implemented on Week 5 of the semester. Students were instructed to create a daily prescription for their own Self-Care and Well-Being after a mindfulness meditation activity.
Instructions: Make your prescription for the day unique to you, your interests, your availability, and your abilities. What you choose can include small tasks, such as, taking a step outside to take a deep breath, to something that requires a little more time out of your day, like going to get a massage. Choose as many areas that you believe you can handle for the day. Try to write the prescription the night before so that you can view it and start “your prescriptions” when you start your day.
Personal Journey to Cultivating Caritas Literacy Self-Care and Well-Being
This activity is a guided reflection on how the student practices Caritas Processes® with focus on Caritas Process 1 and how it impacts the caring healing relationship for compassionate care. This is a required assignment in all the Medical/Surgical clinical courses in the curriculum.
Cultivation of Caritas Literacy 1 (Embrace-Loving-kindness) Initiative for Finals Week Concepts:
Finals week is a very stressful time for the student nurse. . To address this, a program focusing on cultivating Caritas Literacy was implemented. The focus was on increasing the practice of Caritas Process® 1 Embrace (Loving-Kindness), which involves sustaining humanistic-altruistic values through acts of loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity towards oneself and others. The focus was to develop and enhance students' intentional attention to self-care practices, promote their well-being, and develop resilience during the stressful time of finals week.
The program was implemented across the entire student body. All students enrolled in the School of Nursing received an invitation to participate, facilitated by the office of the Nursing Student Success Center (NSSC), which has access to students' email contact information. Students were encouraged to engage in self-care practices and to track their journey leading up to finals week. They were required to submit a completed form documenting their self-care activities to the NSSC.
To incentivize participation, submissions were entered into a raffle for prizes. Additionally, a Self-Care Basket stocked with items such as aromatherapy lotion, colored pencils, coloring books, and affirmations was made available to students at the NSSC, further supporting their self-care efforts.
Prior to class, students are assigned to view a podcast on resilience available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA15YZlF_kM.
In class, the following discussion topics are addressed:
By structuring the discussion and activities in this way, students engage with the content through self-assessment, reflection, and practical planning, thereby enhancing their understanding of emotional intelligence and its relevance to resilience in nursing practice.
“With these new competencies… it will allow [graduates] to engage in that caring, healing and compassionate relationship, not only with their patients, but also with themselves to develop that resiliency and prevent burnout.” – Ludy Llasus, Associate Professor of Nursing
Location: Henderson, NV
School Type: Public School
Partners: Seven Hills Behavioral Hospital
Faculty Contact: Ludy Llasus
Self-Care Prescription Activity
Student Self-Care Invitation for Finals Week
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