Abstract:

Distance education (DE) is an effective teaching method because it promotes learning with the active involvement of students, through an interactive scenario with possibilities for discussion that allow knowledge exchanges [1]. This innovative method may affect the performance of the future nurses when dealing with visually impaired persons. Accordingly, this study aims at assessing the perception of nursing students about DE with a view to training them to communicate with the blind person. This is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Between the months of August and September 2015, the Course on Health Communication of the Nurse with the Blind Patient was offered in a virtual learning environment in a public university. The course has an hourly load of 60 hours, divided into four modules, two boards and one chat. In order to select the participants, the course was advertised in three public universities in Ceará, Brazil. A total of 105 registrations were made. In order to collect data, an instrument with seven questions related to the previous experience with DE courses and training on disabled persons, difficulties and facilities for access to the virtual environment, classes, interaction tools and suggestions for content modification was made available at the end of the course. Data analysis preceded the reading, association of similar responses and description thereof. Of the 105 registered participants, 35 answered the instrument. Concerning the experience with DE, 11 had already done courses in this modality. Only one participant had already been trained in the matter of disabled persons. Difficulties of access to the virtual environment, class content and complementary materials were reported by nine and six participants, respectively. Board and chat activities were considered important to solve doubts and exchange experiences by all who attended them, but four students did not take part in the chat. Concerning the content addressed in the course, nine students suggested to us to pursue a deeper understanding of issues related to blind patients and family approach, health services, public policies and technologies used for education and communication. As for the positive points, they reported the empowerment on the topic, since the subject is not addressed in undergraduate courses; enhancement in relation to humanized care; they described the adopted methodology, the availability of content, chat tools and boards as benefits; and choice of DE for professional training. The negative points were associated with technical problems of access to the virtual environment. Nursing students have proved to be aware of the importance of the training on communication with blind patients for professional growth and care for these customers. Chats and boards were considered excellent tools for interaction and learning on DE. Despite the difficulties pointed out, DE has proved to be a feasible and attractive tool for the training of this public with regard to the communication with the blind person.

References:
[1] M Badiei, M Gharib, M Zolfaghari, R Mojtahedzadeh. “Comparing nurses’ knowledge retention following electronic continuous education and educational booklet: a controlled trial study”, in Med J IslamRepub Iran, 2016. vol.30, 2016. Retrieved from journal URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4972056/

Keywords:

Education, Distance, Disabled Persons, Nursing.