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. 2022 Aug 25;21(1):237.
doi: 10.1186/s12912-022-00991-2.

Exploring nurse and nursing student experience of using an artist-produced photobook to learn about dementia

Savannah Dodd  1 , Gillian Carter  2 , Andrena Christie  2 , Gary Mitchell  2
Affiliations

Exploring nurse and nursing student experience of using an artist-produced photobook to learn about dementia

Savannah Dodd et al. BMC Nurs. .

Abstract

Background: Improving understanding about dementia in nursing is a priority area for educators and policymakers. This is due to poor professional understanding about dementia and suboptimal healthcare practice. While many educational interventions exist, there has been a paucity of research which has considered the use of artist-produced photobooks to improve knowledge and understanding about dementia. The aim of this study is to understand the impact of an artist-produced photobook on nurses' attitudes and beliefs about dementia.

Results: Following a thematic analysis of four focus group interviews with 22 nurses and nursing students from Northern Ireland, three themes emerged. Theme one was about how the artist-produced photobook helped participants to humanise the person living with dementia. Theme two related to how the artist-produced photobook supported participants to actively construct their own meanings about dementia based on their previous professional and personal experiences. Theme three explored how an artist-produced photobook could be successfully used to complement existing dementia education in the future.

Conclusions: Using an artist-produced photobook was an innovative way to learn about dementia for nurses and nursing students. The photobook functioned as a tool underpinned by arts-based pedagogy (ABP), supporting nurses to understand the person behind the dementia disease. As such, an artist-produced photobook has the potential to be a useful complementary resource for supporting professional education about dementia.

Keywords: Arts-based pedagogy; Arts-based research; Dementia; Dementia education; Nursing education; Pedagogy; Person-centred care; Photobook; Photography; Visual learning.

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Conflict of interest statement

GC, AC, and GM declare no competing interests. SD was responsible for the development of the artist-produced photobook. SD was not involved in either recruitment of participants or data collection. SD did participate in data analysis with all co-authors. Furthermore, the artist-produced photobooks were publicly funded.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cover of photobook
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Inside of photobook
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Page spread from inside the photobook showing pairing of archival and contemporary photographs
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Page spread from inside the photobook showing a photograph of a wallpaper pattern and a handwritten note
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
A montage of materials from a page spread showing a transcription of the handwritten note and a photograph of grandad
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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