Nursing students' satisfaction with narrative photography as a method to develop empathy towards people with Hiv: A mixed-design study

Background: A major concern for people living with HIV during their lifetime is stigma and discrimination. It is therefore crucial to improve new generations of nurses' empathetic attitude towards these patients to eliminate fear and reduce discrimination using new educational interventions.

Objective: To analyze nursing students' satisfaction with narrative photography as a method to develop empathy towards people living with HIV.

Design: Concurrent mixed-method design.

Participants: Seventeen first-year nursing students from a public university in Barcelona, Spain.

Methods: A 32-item questionnaire was administered at the end of the narrative photography training activity to determine nursing students' satisfaction with the methodology. Sociodemographic, attitudinal, skills, and satisfaction data were collected. Qualitative data were collected using a reflective open-ended question.

Results: Of the participants, 82.4% stated that narrative photography helped them to develop reflective thinking and perceive how people living with HIV may feel. Further, 88.2% said that the new method helped them to eliminate some of their prejudices about HIV/AIDS, consider different points of view, understand the importance of providing humanized care, and identify discriminatory behaviors when caring for people living with HIV. Finally, 70.6% stated that narrative photography taught them more than traditional lectures.

Conclusions: Nursing students' satisfaction with narrative photography as a teaching strategy is very high; as a result, empathy is advanced in an academic and professional way during the nursing degree. However, more research is needed to demonstrate its efficacy in different scenarios.