The current nature of the integration of the humanities within baccalaureate nursing education

The purpose of this study was to examine the current nature of the integration of the humanities within nursing courses in baccalaureate education. Integration of the humanities has been described as one curricular approach that supports the growth of critical thinking within a humanistic perspective and also the personal and professional development of the nursing student, goals of both baccalaureate nursing and liberal arts education. In addition, faculty perceptions on the effectiveness of achievement of these goals related to these humanities learning activities were explored. Furthermore, the understanding of the concept of critical thinking as described by nursing faculty was investigated.;Baccalaureate nursing educators have built their nursing programs on the philosophical belief that learning in the humanities is essential to prepare a truly educated, socially conscious nurse and to instill the seeds of compassion. Over the last thirty years some educators have argued that instead of the traditional practice of 'parceling' out chunks of curriculum, efforts should be directed at methods to integrate the humanities within the nursing courses (Newell, 1989; Valiga & Bruderle, 1997, Wilson, 1974);The main research design was the case study method. The study examined documents, namely nursing course syllabi supplemented by faculty interviewing to investigate the current level of the integration of the humanities within nursing courses. The sample in this study was generated from 12 generic, accredited baccalaureate nursing programs in the Philadelphia area. Data was provided from 23 nursing faculty who have utilized humanities learning activities within their nursing courses.;This research demonstrated that there is a modest occurrence of the integration of the humanities with a mean of 12.33 occurrences per institution. The most frequent occurrences were uncovered in freshman/introductory followed by the specialties of psychiatric and community nursing. Leadership and diversity were the most prevalent concepts illustrated. The strategy of film was the most utilized and the most frequent evaluation technique was discussion. Faculty interview data indicted that the humanities strategies were highly effective in fostering the goals of both baccalaureate and liberal arts education. The understanding of the concept of critical thinking of the nursing faculty was congruent with the literature findings that described attributes associated with critical thinkers. Findings from this study offer several recommendations for future research and faculty development.