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Learning from authentic patient narratives in nursing education using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle: A qualitative study
Cansu Polat Dünya1, İlknur Özkan2, Nurten Özen1
1Internal Medicine Nursing Department, School of Nursing, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Aim:
This study aimed to explore what nursing students learned from a real-life narrative shared by a person living with multiple sclerosis (MS) in a classroom setting and how this experience shaped their professional awareness within a structured reflective framework informed by Gibbs' Reflective Cycle.
Background:
Patient narratives can strengthen experiential and reflective learning by helping students move beyond disease-focused knowledge toward a more person-centred understanding of illness. However, evidence remains limited on how structured reflection captures learning from chronic illness narratives within nursing education.
Design:
A qualitative study using reflexive thematic analysis.
Methods:
The study was conducted with 30 s-year nursing students at a public university in Türkiye. Following an in-class session where a person with MS shared her lived experience, students wrote individual reflective reports structured around the six stages of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle (description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, action plan). Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke.
Findings:
Four main themes emerged: (1) Exploring the individual and psychosocial dimensions of illness experience in professional learning; (2) Emotional transformation and empathy development; (3) Encountering real life at the limits of theoretical knowledge; and (4) Professional nursing approach and action planning. Students reported heightened awareness of daily-life losses and uncertainty, stronger empathic and ethical sensitivity, recognition of the theory-practice gap and the need for individualised, holistic care. Reflections also included concrete intentions for future communication, psychosocial support and patient empowerment.
Conclusion:
Integrating authentic patient narratives with a structured reflective framework may support deep learning and contribute to the development of empathy, ethical awareness and person-centred practice. Nursing curricula may benefit from systematic inclusion of patient narratives alongside guided reflection.
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