INFORMATION SEEKING AND INFORMATION USING BEHAVIORS OF NURSES IN CLINICAL PRACTICE AS RELATED TO COGNITIVE STYLE.
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1983
Number of pages: 190
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study exploring the relationship of cognitive style to the information seeking and information using behaviors of nurses in clinical practice was carried out on two postoperative surgical wards of a military hospital. Three research questions were posed: (1) How do nurses with distinct cognitive style preferences exhibit information seeking behaviors in clinical practice; (2) How do nurses with distinct cognitive style preferences exhibit information using behaviors in clinical practice; and, (3) How do nurses with neutral cognitive style preferences exhibit information seeking and using behaviors in clinical practice? Sixteen military nurse subjects were observed while they cared for postoperative cholecystectomy patients. Each observation, one hour in length, began when the patient returned to the ward from the postoperative recovery room. Nonparticipant observation and a modified critical incident/process recording were used to collect the observational data.

A cognitive style inventory, based on the two-dimensional McKenney model was administered to each subject after the observations were completed. The inventory measures preference for four modes of thinking (receptive, preceptive, intuitive and systematic) described by McKenney's model. Subjects with a dominant cognitive style in any of the four thinking modes were placed in categories according to their dominant style. Subjects without dominant styles were placed in the neutral group. Frequencies of observed behaviors were examined for nurses of the neutral group and for the various dominant cognitive styles. Patterns of information seeking and information using behaviors of the individuals and groups in each cognitive style category were identified and described. Several patterns were identified which were congruent with the theoretical model of cognitive style. Differences in patterns seen for groups and individuals were based on frequencies of observed behaviors. No tests of statistical significance were appropriate due to both the small sample size and small N within each cognitive style group. The information processing patterns observed in this sample of military nurses suggest strategies which may be appropriate for nurses of various cognitive styles to use in handling the diverse information encountered in the clinical setting.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, Section: B, page: 0826.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1983.

School code: 0227.