An exploratory study to identify if exposure to caring for people with learning disabilities can alter initial perceptions and feelings of pre-registration, general nursing students.

Abstract

Background: People with learning disabilities are 2.5 times more likely to have health issues than the rest of the general population (MENCAP 2016). Despite their heavy reliance on health services, health inequalities are present for this group (Lacey and Ouvry 2003). The literature shows that they encounter discrimination and poor care in the health care environment. This can result in affecting their quality of life and some cases have even resulted in unnecessary deaths (McArthur et al. 2015). It is essential to face these injustices, especially since 1.5 million make up the UK population (MENCAP 2016). The perceptions and feelings towards this group can affect the care provided and a lack of training and skill for working with this population is apparent (McConkey et al 2002, Thornton 1999).The evidence from the literature suggests that this educational requirement is needed and identified by nursing staff (Webber at al. 2008). However, there is little evidence to suggest as to what will be done to address this demand to improve these educational needs Aims: The proposed study is to identify if exposure to caring for people with learning disabilities can alter initial perceptions and feelings of pre-registration, general nursing students. The aims are to discover if exposure to caring for this group can alter these initial perceptions and feelings; to explore the initial feelings and perceptions of general student nurses when caring for people with learning disabilities; to gain an understanding of how current education training prepares student nurses for caring for this group and to identify if exposure to this care has an impact on the future practice of student nurses. Methods: This study will adopt a qualitative exploratory-descriptive approach using audio recorded focus groups and semi-structured online logs. A combination of purposive and nonprobability sampling will be used to recruit general student nurses from a large city in Scotland. The data collected will be over a three-week period and analysed using thematic analysis.