Applying Learning Theories to Healthcare
Added on 2020-01-21
10 Pages2802 Words79 Views
|
|
|
Surname 1Learning Theories and Their Application to Nursing PracticeStudent’s nameInstructor’s nameCourseDate
Surname 2Learning Theories and Their Application to Nursing PracticeIntroductionLearning is considered a permanent change, in a relative sense, of either mental processing, behavior, or emotional functioning and which occurs as a consequence of experience. It is a dynamic process that takes place life long, and acquisition of new skills and knowledge takes place by the altering or modification of the individual’s attitudes, feelings, actions, and thoughts. Learning is crucial to the healthcare field as it empowers the person to adapt according to demanding situations and scenarios. For nurses, especially, learning is very crucial, while they deal with treating and educating patients and their familiesand partnering with their colleagues in providing holistic treatment.It was only in the beginning of the 20th century that educational psychology emerged as an important field and began to define to people the learning processes and teaching and assessment methods (Woolfolk, 2001). Educational psychology revolves around collection ofevidence and data for the testing of hypotheses and theories on learning. “A learning theory isa coherent framework of integrated constructs and principles that describe, explain, or predicthow people learn (Hilgard & Bower, 1966; Ormrod, 2004; Snowman & Biehler, 2006).”Healthcare can benefit greatly from the application of learning theories. It is vital that any health professional implement sound strategies and methods while indulging in client andpatient relations, education efforts, staff training and management, and while engaging with programs that deal with health promotion.It has become increasingly common for nurses around the world to design and implement procedures and plans for improving health conditions and imparting knowledge on health. Thus, the learning processes become imperative in the nurse’s lives, as they deal with almost every aspect of daily lives.
Surname 3Learning theories can be implemented at the group, community, or individual levels to not only understand and teach material, but also modify habits, solve problems, and manage patient wellbeing and maintain good relationships. Thus, the main psychological theories of learning are very much central to the heath field of practice and clinical education.Although the current trend is focusing on integrating learning theories pertaining to education, it is essential, however, that each theory’s advantages, fundamental principles, anddrawbacks are comprehended better by nurses so that they can combine, select, and apply the most useful portion of each of the learning theory to the specific patient or scenario. In light of this view, the gist of the learning theories and how they relate to nursing practice is briefedbelow.The “Behaviorist Learning Theory“The “behaviorist learning theory“ can be described as the product of Stimulus and Responses that occur – it is easily also called the S–R theory of learning. The learning process in this model is very simple. It is difficult to assess what happens within an individual, and this theory does not deal with this aspect. Rather, it deals with the responses to stimuli and behavior modifications take place when the environment changes. Behaviorismis finding great application in learning in the healthcare and nursing fields.Operant conditioning that is inherent to behaviorist theory offers solutions to quickly change behavior. For instance, patient tutorials and computers and learning programs are based largely on operant principles of conditioning while being structured. In the case of dealing with dyslexics, the operant conditioning theory finds itself applied to a great extent. The reinforcement techniques are, according to Skinner (1974, 1989), allowed to act on the environment to generate favorable responses. Other modifications of behaviors can be achieved through negative and positive punishments.
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.
Related Documents
Early Social Learning Theory (Doc)lg...
|4
|466
|158
Effective Learning Strategies in Clinical Settingslg...
|10
|2765
|62
Application Of Learning Theorieslg...
|10
|2642
|27
Learning Theories and Nursing Educationlg...
|11
|2741
|96
Behavioral Theory and Nursing Educationlg...
|9
|2799
|41
Nursing Practice Question and Answer 2022lg...
|6
|1164
|24