Nurses' perspectives of self‐awareness in nursing practice: A descriptive qualitative study

Abstract

Self‐awareness is essential for nurses for improving nurse–patient relationship and patient care. There are many theories about self‐awareness, but scant research explores nurses' perspectives regarding self‐awareness and its significance for themselves and patient care. This study explores nurses' perspectives regarding self‐awareness in nursing, the importance of self‐awareness for nurses, and its influence on patient care. We used a descriptive qualitative design. Face‐to‐face semistructured interviews were conducted, from October to December 2018, with a purposive sample of 13 nurses at two hospitals in Pakistan. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Five themes and 13 subthemes were generated. The themes included the meaning of self‐awareness: a personal, professional, and conscientious attribute, significance of self‐awareness for nurses, self‐aware nurses and its impact on patient care, behaviors, and actions signifying self‐awareness, and what is needed to enhance self‐awareness. Self‐awareness can increase nurses' confidence in managing challenging situations and providing culturally competent care to patients from various cultural and religious orientations.

Development and Testing of a Measure of Self-awareness Among Nurses

“…The nurses described the meaning of self-awareness, its relevance to clinical practice, the ways of demonstrating self-awareness in practice, and strategies for enhancing and fostering self-awareness. The detailed qualitative findings are reported elsewhere (Younas et al, 2019). In this paper, we described the four aspects of self-awareness that nurses described in their responses.…”

“…Therefore, it is important that nurses must continuously strive to become more self-aware, and the nursing institutions should put greater emphasis on fostering nurses’ ability to enhance their self-awareness. In Pakistan, self-awareness is only discussed in the mental health, and educational settings and its discussion and relevance for clinical practice are largely ignored (Younas et al, 2019). Possibly, the situation at the global level is similar.…”

“…During the interviews, prompts were used to develop an in-depth understanding of nurses’ responses. During and at the end of interviews, the responses were summarized, and clarification was sought if required (Younas et al, 2019).…”

Role and application of self‐awareness in managerial practice: A qualitative study of nurse managers

“…Younas et al. (2020) reported that nurses considered self‐awareness as an attitude for the ‘recognition of hidden capacities to discern actions in response to various social and professional situations’ (p. 401). Self‐awareness is nurses' capacity to recognize their responsibilities concerning themselves and their communities, understand their behaviours for building effective relationships with patients and other care providers in diverse situations, and foster personal aptitudes and coping strategies for stress management in challenging clinical situations (Younas et al., 2020).…”

“…The highlighted significance of self‐awareness for nurse managers warrants that research should be focused on exploring the views and perspectives of nurse managers about the role and contribution of self‐awareness in management settings. Only three studies explored the views of front‐line nurses in general and mental health settings about self‐awareness (Ramvi, 2015; Thomson et al., 2019; Younas et al., 2020). However, no research has explored the perceptions of nurse managers about self‐awareness.…”