THE INFLUENCE OF MENTAL IMAGERY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A COMPLEX PSYCHOMOTOR NURSING SKILL USING TWO LEARNING APPROACHES.
Contributors: University of San Francisco.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 98
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Nursing practice consists of many complex psychomotor skills which are intrusive in nature and may inflict pain if not performed well. One of the first of such skills introduced is the administration of injections.

This experimental study examined the effect of imagery training on the performance of subcutaneous injections. It was predicted that low imagers would show improvement in imaging ability and that specific imaging practice in combination with physical practice would influence performance of the skill.

Subjects were 60 female sophomore students in two university baccalaureate nursing programs with no prior experience giving injections.

Stage I. Subjects were given Sheehan's version of the Betts' Mental Imagery Test and divided into high imagers (top 20 scores) and low imagers (low 40 scores). Low imagers were randomly assigned to two groups. One low imager group and the high imager group were exposed to two five-minute relaxation practice sessions; the remaining low imager group was exposed to two five-minute nonspecific imaging practice sessions. All subjects were posttested on the Betts'. One-way ANOVA of pre-post Betts' scores showed a significant difference between the three groups (F = 6.12; p (LESSTHEQ) .01). Hypothesis IA was supported; subjects with low imagery exposed to nonspecific imaging practice showed improved imaging ability compared to subjects with high imagery exposed to relaxation practice (d = 1.00; critical d = .50) defined in the hypothesis. Stage II. Subjects in each of the three groups identified in Stage I were randomly assigned to physical practice or physical plus specific imaging practice to learn the skill of subcutaneous injections. Groups had two 15-minute practice sessions and were tested on the Quiring and Robertson Observation Checklist. One-way ANOVA showed no significant difference among groups. There were tendencies in three groups of low imagers in the hypothesized direction (exposure to physical plus specific imaging practice resulted in higher scores than exposure to physical practice only).

Conclusions. (1) Nonspecific imaging experiences improved imaging ability of low imagers. (2) There were no significant differences between physical practice plus specific imaging and physical practice only groups on the performance test.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, Section: B, page: 1510.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 1984.

School code: 6019.