Self-Awareness in Nursing: A Scoping Review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To outline and examine the literature about self-awareness in nursing and to identify areas for future research and practice.

BACKGROUND: Self-awareness is important for the personal and professional development of nurses, for developing an effective nurse-patient relationship, and for improving nursing abilities. Despite its importance in nursing and therapeutic nurse-patient relationship and its evolving nature, the knowledge base for self-awareness in nursing remains under examined.

DESIGN: A scoping review using PRISMA guidelines.

METHODS: A five-step approach: a) identification of research question, b) identification of relevant studies using a three-step search; keywords search within PubMed and CINAHL, literature search within PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycInfo, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, and literature search of references lists, c) study selection, d) data extraction and charting, e) data collation, summarization, and reporting was used.

FINDINGS: Of 1531 identified sources, 76 full-text sources were read and 29 English language sources, published from January 1980 until January 2018, which included nurses or nursing students were reviewed. Two themes: perspectives on self-awareness and strategies for enhancing self-awareness emerged. Under these themes, conceptualization of self-awareness; its antecedents and value; and theory-based, educational, and personal strategies for its enhancement were described. There is sufficient literature regarding self-awareness conceptualization and theory-based strategies for its enhancement, but inconclusive evidence regarding value of self-awareness, and educational and personal strategies for its improvement.

CONCLUSION: There is limited research on self-awareness. Most of the literature comprises of theoretical discussions and opinions which adequately provide a conceptual understanding of self-awareness. However, more empirical and applied research is needed to apply the available theoretical knowledge in practice.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This review delineated theoretical, educational, and personal strategies for nurses to improve their self-awareness and indicated that engagement in self-awareness at relational and contextual levels is essential for developing nurse patient relationship. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.