“Putting the words ‘I am sad’, just doesn't quite cut it sometimes!”: The use of art to promote emotional awareness in nursing students

SummaryThis paper explores a way in which Heidegger's later philosophy on meditative thinking can be used to support the development of emotional self awareness in pre registration nursing students. The development of art work supported the consideration of feelings in relation to particular incidents from practice. The students were afforded the opportunity to think ‘for thinking's sake’ about their feelings around emotionally challenging situations. They were then more able to consider others' feelings and think differently about the situations encountered.The students found the process beneficial although in an already packed curriculum, it may be difficult to afford the time and space needed to adopt more transformatory ways of learning. A more objective and focused delivery may be preferable to the nurse educator, but when exploring human emotion, consideration could be given to whether this is beneficial to the student.