First-Year Nursing Students—Developing Relational Caring Practice Through Inquiry

BACKGROUND: In the current chaotic health care milieu, it is a challenge to create learning environments that support students to become respectful and community-engaged practitioners who are able to care for self and others. Aesthetic and transformative learning approaches foster students to develop caring attributes. METHOD: Using relational inquiry and the general principles of transformative learning theory, an aesthetic curriculum project for first-year nursing students exploring the interrelatedness of self, other, and caring was developed and evaluated by nursing faculty. RESULTS: Students' in-the-moment experiences of transitioning into nursing school were enlisted to (a) open the space for deeper learning, (b) support the development of relational caring practice, and (c) foster personal and professional transformations. CONCLUSION: Aesthetic learning opportunities create experiential moments, where novice students can begin to explore the interconnectedness of self, other, and caring as it relates to their being and becoming a nurse.