Visual Arts in Nursing Education: An Inventive Interprofessional Initiative to Cultivate Metacognitive Awareness in Beginning Nursing Students
Carley G. Lovell, R. K. Elswick, Sara Wilson McKay, Jo Lynne W. Robins, Jeanne Salyer
Abstract
Purpose To test an interdisciplinary art-based educational program for beginning baccalaureate traditional and accelerated nursing students. Design Longitudinal study (Pretest–Posttest) of nursing students’ metacognitive awareness. Method As part of a first-semester foundations nursing course, all students participated in the Art of Nursing program consisting of three 90-minute sessions led by graduate Art Education students in a local fine arts museum. Before and after the program, subcomponents of critical thinking were assessed using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). Findings A total of 218 students (56 traditional, 162 accelerated) participated. Statistically significant improvement was observed on seven components of the MAI. Although significant increases were observed for Declarative ( p < .0001), Planning ( p < .0001), and Comprehension Monitoring ( p < .0001), the differences pre to post were of different magnitudes between the student groups, characterizing a large change in the traditional versus accelerated group. Conclusions Our results suggest that (1) nursing students’ metacognitive awareness benefits from the museum-based experience despite demographic and educational differences and (2) overall the accelerated student group has exhibited higher metacognitive awareness at baseline as compared with the traditional student group; however, both groups demonstrate significant growth in this area after experiencing an art-based program.