精神看護学実習における学生－患者間の「距離」に関する研究

This study was intended to clarify the actual physical distance between students and patients and students' recognition of this distance in psychiatric nursing practice, and to apply the findings to educational activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted to third-year students before graduation. The results were as follows: regarding physical distance, or the positional relationship, the students tried to communicate with patients while being "50cm apart from them" "for some 20 minutes" "in the hall" using the "parallel method"; regarding mental distance, the students "successfully approached" patients mentally, feeling that they were "accepted by", "able to understand", or "able to commit themselves to" patients; concerning how to communicate with patients, 90% of the students practiced "greeting/self-introduction", "identifying patients", "obtaining patients' agreement", and "talking/nodding to patients"; and concerning training methods in the psychiatric nursing class, the students preferred practical ones such as "process recording" and "listening to nurses talking about their experiences". Some students recognized that "it was important not to get too close but to promptly perceive the distance most comfortable for individual patients, and gradually develop the interaction at a pace natural to them". Overall, this study suggests the importance of students' findings through reviewing their own experience and the necessity of training that allows students to deepen their levels of learning by themselves.