Integral Nursing Care from the Perspective of Nursing Students’ Knowledge

Abstract

Integral theory is also used in health care. In nursing care, it received attention by connecting different approaches for holistic, integrated, integrative health care of patients. It is necessary to define which theoretical variables of integral nursing care best reflect the concept and what the knowledge of nursing students is about integral nursing care. A qualitative approach was used in the study. A content analysis was carried out of the written sources of the research from 2013 on the integral approach between the nursing students and the lecturer at a faculty in Slovenia and of the responses by 45 nursing care students obtained in the assessment of their knowledge in the context of community care in the academic year 2017/2018. The findings were then compared in terms of defined theoretical variables and the students' knowledge. Based on the evidence collected, the concept of the integral approach could be substantially more precise. Some indicators were identified that could have an impact on the implementation of the integral theory in the Slovenian health-care system. There is an indication of progress in the knowledge of nursing care students, which is important for upgrading knowledge in postgraduate education in the field of integrated health and social care.