Student nurses perceptions of their interpersonal skills: a re-examination of Burnard and Morrison's findings

Heron's six category intervention analysis is a component of many counselling courses and is used extensively by teachers of interpersonal skills within nursing curricula. The popularity of this framework has generated a number of studies which have attempted to offer empirical support for the theory. The aim of this study was to re-evaluate some of these findings. Utilising an earlier research instrument, a set of findings are offered and comparisons made with previous work. Our findings suggest that student nurses perceive themselves to be most skilled in the use of supportive, prescriptive and cathartic interventions and least skilled in the use of informative, catalytic and confronting interventions. A discussion of the new findings and their implications is offered.