Data for: Supporting patient education using schema theory: a discourse analysis

Background: While patient education has long been an important part of nurses’ roles in patient care, research has found difficulties with providing patient education. Sound subject matter knowledge is not enough to give effective and meaningful instruction; pedagogical knowledge is also needed, with an understanding of different aspects of learning processes to inform our teaching methods. Despite the importance of patient education, many nurses do not necessarily have pedagogical knowledge regarding how to teach, how to support patient’s learning and how to consciously implement strategies into patient education.
Aim: By understanding theories that explain how people learn better, and awareness of the consequences of different approaches to giving patient education, nurses can be better informed about how to structure their information-giving in ways that will support patient learning.
Methods: Discourse analysis from an interactional sociolinguistic perspective is used to examine authentic nurse-patient health information encounters, mapped against cognitive learning theories, schema theory in particular.
Findings: The interactional consequences, when elements drawn from learning theories are implemented, are observable in the data.
Discussion: Strategies that support patients’ learning include linking information to the patients’ prior experience/knowledge, providing information that is relevant to them, and chunking information into unified themes while encouraging patients’ active involvement through questioning and clarification of information.
Conclusion: Awareness of learning theories and strategies outlined in this paper can strengthen communication skills and assist health professionals to structure patient education in ways that support patients’ learning, thereby enhancing patient safety.

背景：尽管患者教育长期以来一直是护士在患者护理中的职责重要组成部分，但研究却发现，在提供患者教育方面存在诸多困难。单纯具备扎实的专业知识尚不足以进行有效且富有意义的指导；此外，还需具备教育学知识，理解学习过程的不同方面，以便为我们的教学方法提供指导。尽管患者教育的重要性不言而喻，但许多护士并不一定具备关于如何教学、如何支持患者学习以及如何有意识地实施策略到患者教育中的教育学知识。目标：通过理解解释人们如何更有效地学习的理论，以及对不同患者教育方法的后果的觉悟，护士可以更好地了解如何结构化他们的信息提供方式，从而支持患者学习。方法：采用交互社会语言学的视角进行话语分析，以考察真实的护患健康信息交流，并将其与认知学习理论，特别是图式理论相对应。发现：当从学习理论中抽取的元素被实施时，其交互后果在数据中是可观察的。讨论：支持患者学习的策略包括将信息与患者先前经验/知识相联系，提供与他们相关的信息，并将信息划分为统一的主题，同时通过提问和信息澄清鼓励患者的积极参与。结论：对本论文中概述的学习理论和策略的认知可以加强沟通技巧，并协助医疗专业人员以支持患者学习的方式结构化患者教育，从而提高患者安全水平。