Nursing students' evolving professional values: Capturing their journey through co-operative inquiry

Aim/objective and Background: Despite a worldwide emphasis in nursing codes of practice that state nurses must uphold professional values to be caring and compassionate, evidence continues to emerge of poor-quality care standards. Existing literature attests to a tendency to deteriorating caring values as students' progress through their nursing programme. In response, one university in England exposed pre-registration nursing students to a values-based curriculum which embedded Todres et al.'s (2009) Humanising Values Framework. Design and Methods: This paper describes the later stages of a co-operative inquiry, where students as participants explore their evolving values around person-centred approaches to care as they engaged with clinical practice. Data were collected between 2013 and 2016. Results and Conclusion: Findings reveal how students developed their confidence and resilience in the face of situations that challenged their value base by internalising a humanised approach to care. They demonstrated this in practice by using problem-based coping strategies, peer and mentor support. Engagement with a curriculum based on humanistic philosophy encouraged students as participants to feel confident in the practice of person-centred care.