NURTURE VERSUS NATURE

NURTURING THE NEXT BEST

BY SAMUEL K. MWANGI

• Nurturing well-rounded nurses with a breadth of experience really is investing in our future stars.
• It doesn’t matter where, how or when you will need a nurse but it is absolute that at one point in your life you will pass through the hands of a nurse.
• So this begets this question… What type of a nurse do you wish to attend to you, your friends or your kin?

INTRODUCTION.

• At the early ages in the life of a businessman, there is a tendency to take risks and make calculated moves.
• But how many parents allow their kids to venture and learn the businesses they undertake?
• However, a business man right from the word go starts to teach entrepreneurial skills to the young ones even before school starts.

Relationship to nursing: Engaging the businessman's mind in nurturing the current novice nurses can be very productive in matters of preparing tomorrow’s nurse.

​

​

​

​

THE BUSINESS-MANS MINDSET

​

​

• The phrase ‘nature versus nurture’ was first coined in the mid 1800’s by the English Victorian polymath Francis Galton. This was in discussion about the influence of heredity and environment on social advancement.
• Between the length and width of a rectangle which contributes more to the area of the rectangle? Donald Hebb would ask when faced by the question of identifying what contributes more to the personality of an individual; is it nature or nurture?

NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

The social cognitive theory

• Albert Bandura developed the Social Cognitive Theory based on the concept that learning is affected by cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors (Bandura, 1991).
• In contrast to the traditional psychological theories that emphasized learning through direct experience, Bandura posited that virtually, all learning phenomena can occur by observing other people’s behavior and consequence of it (Bandura, 1986).
• Bandura posited that the process of observational learning was governed by four key aspects: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
• Attention is a process in which people selectively observe and extract information from the ongoing modeled activities (Wood & Bandura, 1989).

​

• The Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes that observational learning, is not a simple imitative process; human beings are the agents or managers of their own behaviors (Bandura, 2001).
• Based on this idea, Bandura has identified several concepts critical for learning.
• Human agency is the concept that learners make an intentional decision to invest in learning and enact behavior change (Bandura, 2001). The core feature of agency is its “power to originate actions for given purposes (Bandura, 1997, p.3)”. Social Cognitive Theory identifies three modes of human agency: personal, proxy, and collective (p. 13)

​

​

Cont…

2. Self-regulation refers to self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal goals (Boekaerts, 2005, p. 14).
1. According to Bandura, self-regulation operates through a set of psychological sub functions: self-monitoring sub function, judgmental sub function, and self-reactive influences (Bandura, 1991, pp. 250- 256).

​

​

Cont…

Cont....��

​

3. Self-efficacy plays a central role in self-regulation process. It concerns an individual’s belief in their capabilities to successfully control actions or events in their lives. These beliefs are based on the individual feeling that they possess the requisite cognitive abilities, motivation, and resources to complete the task (Wood & Bandura, 1989).
1. There are four main sources of information that create students’ self-efficacy: enactive mastery experiences, vicarious (observational) experiences, social persuasions and physiological and psychological states (Bandura, 1997).

​

​

​

​

• In the older days, nurses were well known to be enemies of their own. This narrative has greatly changed in the recent past.
• In this regard, there are so many nurses undertaking clinical mentorship for novice and student nurses in preparation for tomorrows nurse.
• Just like a gazelle, the fawn or calf should never be left unattended. A novice nurse should never be let to handle complicated cases alone.
• Nature has had it that nurses are inferior to doctors but it is common knowledge that at this age and era, a well nurtured nurse is complementary to the doctor.

​

How do we nurture the next generation?

​

Cont....

​

• Through empowerment at the clinical level- the clinical nurses who have been in the field long enough.
• Through CNEs and workshops on research done, novice nurses stand a greater chance to up their game and be better in their field.
• Continuous research on key topics that will help improve peri-operative nursing care.
• Critiquing current practices through research and new knowledge.
• Safeguarding current practices through knowledge and dissemination of information.

​

• Maintain a positive attitude

​

-Patients look to us not only for excellent care, but also for emotional support.

-We all make mistakes and face many challenges which help us learn and grow.

​

-But don’t get weighed down by negative self-talk, as this can take a toll on your mental health and your ability to best help patients.

​

​

References.

1. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
2. Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248--287. 10.1016/0749-5978(91)90022-L
3. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
4. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Reviews Psychology, 52, 1-20. 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.1

​

5. Chen, L.-Y., Hsiao, B., Chern, C.-C., & Chen, H.-G. (2014). Academic Self-Efficacy Scale [Database record]. Retrieved from PsycTESTS. doi: 10.1037/t32195-000
6. Pajares, F. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs in academic settings. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 543–578.
7. Pajares, F. (2006). Self-efficacy during childhood and adolescence: Implications for teachers and parents. In F. Pajares, & T. Urdan (Eds.), Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents (pp. 339–367). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
8. Schunk, D. H. (1995). Self-efficacy and education and instruction. In J. E. Maddux (Ed.), Self efficacy, adaptation and adjustment: Theory, research and application (pp. 281–303). New York: Plenum Press

​

10. Schunk, D. H. (2003). Self-efficacy for reading and writing: Influence of modeling, goal setting and self-evaluation. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 19(2), 159–172.
11. Van Dinther, M., Dochy, F., Segers, M., & Braeken, J. (2013). The construct validity and predictive validity of a self-efficacy measure for student teachers in competence-based education. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 39(3), 169.
12. Wood, R. & Bandura, A. (1989). Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management. The Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 361-384.

​