Nursing students’ attitudes towards ICT in education and clinic in Denmark

Abstract

It is well known that in an era of emerging use of ICT in nursing education and health care it is important to have knowledge of the attitudes towards ICT within the profession. However, nursing students and nurses have been notoriously reluctant to embrace/implement ICT in their work and studies.

This paper focuses on the construction of ICT-habitus amongst bachelor nursing students displayed by four positions of attitudes that describe the ICT-habitus of the group of nursing students included [under consideration] in the study. Quotes from the students are used to support and illustrate the findings. The methodical approach was based on Pierre Bourdieu’s multi-faceted data collection approach and Steiner Kvale’s technical guidelines for interviewing were used for conducting focus group interviews.

In order to carry out the construction a mapping of ICT implementation in the Danish primary and secondary education and nursing education from 1970 – 2001 was undertaken. A questionnaire concerning attitudes towards ICT in Healthcare was conducted amongst first year students and focus group interviews were completed. A bibliography and other sources has been included. These datasets made it possible to construct the field of ICT in nursing education and +to construct nursing students' ICT habitus and ICT capital, which was were categorized in four descriptive positions, called "The endorser", "The sceptic", "The adversary" and "The critical".

These positions can be used for developing strategies for implementing ICT and development of e-learning in educational and clinical settings for nursing students, thereby contributing with new knowledge and understanding of the ICT-based learning context and the processes within.