Shared understandings: negotiating the meanings of health via concept mapping

This paper discusses a project undertaken to explore the effectiveness of concept mapping in assisting students to develop positive concepts of health. Positive concepts of health are central to the notion of health promotion. While strategies for health promotion are included in all nursing education programmes in Australia, to date there have been few strategies that are oriented towards promoting the development of positive concepts of health discussed in the literature. If student nurses are to become health-promoting practitioners, health teaching in nursing education must employ teaching strategies which clarify for students the differences between positive and negative concepts of health. One such strategy is concept mapping, which was developed as an educational tool to foster meaningful learning. Concept maps work to identify misconceptions in relation to a topic by clarifying the essential points, thus opening the way for concept change. This paper discusses the results of using concept mapping within the context of an abstract subject such as health, identifies difficulties in evaluating the strategy and makes recommendations about how these might be overcome.