Nursing Education at an Art Gallery

PURPOSE: To introduce an experiential teaching-learning method in nursing education based on art gallery visits. Works of art communicate a broad spectrum of human experiences and thoughts, and can be useful when studying interpersonal relations. DESIGN: Theoretical framework on experiential learning was based on writings of Dewey and Burnard. Data were collected from nursing students (N = 206) at a university college of health sciences in Sweden during a 3-year period, 1995-1998. METHOD: The pedagogical approach was experiential and based on three phases: observation, conceptualisation, and reflection. When students visited the art gallery, they were encouraged to look for metaphoric expressions of interpersonal relations. Students were asked to interpret the art, report findings to fellow-students, and evaluate the program. FINDINGS: Studying works of art was a powerful teaching-learning method for understanding interpersonal relations. Students related interpretations of a work of art to interpersonal relations in nursing. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing students' observations and understanding of interpersonal relations were enhanced by the art gallery program.