The effect of nonspecific imaging practice on the mental imagery ability of nursing students

Mental imagery practice has assisted in the acquisition of psychomotor skills in several fields. Nursing education programs include many psychomotor skills which students need to learn quickly and efficiently. Examining imagery ability might be the first step in improving methods of teaching psychomotor nursing skills. This study hypothesized that subjects with low imagery who were exposed to non-specific imaging practice could have their imagery ability enhanced through the use of imaging exercises. A within subjects experimental design was used. Sixty sophomore nursing students were divided into high and low imagers based on scores on the shortened form of the Betts' QMI Vividness of Imagery Scale. Each group received one of two treatments--nonspecific imaging practice sessions or relaxation practice sessions; all subjects were posttested on the Betts'. A one-way analysis of variance with followup planned comparison tests using power analysis showed a highly significant main effect for low imagers.