ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE RELEVANCE OF BIOLOGICAL, BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL-SCIENCES IN NURSING-EDUCATION

This paper explores the perceptions of staff and students regarding th e supporting sciences within nursing education and how they feel such content relates to the 'real world' of nursing. A qualitative study ex amining the perceptions of students and teaching staff, particularly t he concept of relevance, was conducted to explore factors which impact upon the integration of theory and practice, The teaching approaches used, assessment items selected, and the perceptions held about what n urses actually do all impinge upon what, and hort, students learn in s ubjects which are essentially non-nursing in their orientation, Throug h an awareness of factors affecting how students and teaching staff ac tually approach supporting sciences content! better informed curriculu m decisions can be made.