Forster, Marc ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5942-3169 (2015) An investigation into Information Literacy in nursing practice - how is it experienced, what are its parameters, and how can it be developed? Doctoral thesis, University of West London.

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Abstract

Information Literacy is believed to play a key role in nursing, especially in the context of Evidence-based Practice (EBP), the initiative within health and social care in which clinical practice is informed by research and other evidence in order to improve care and facilitate patient safety. However there is a need for more systematic research into the nature and parameters of that role, in order to obtain a better understanding of the contextual meanings Information Literacy has for nurses as a profession. The knowledge and evidence obtained could inform Information Literacy educational interventions which currently lack a significant evidence base.
This study applies methods based on the qualitative, second-order methodology Phenomenography to determine the range of Information Literacy experiences within the nursing profession. Nurses of various backgrounds in varying clinical and professional contexts were interviewed in depth. Insights from the findings have been used to map out the parameters of Information Literacy as experienced in nursing practice, including those of an ethical dimension not previously identified or discussed in the literature. Using these parameters as fundamental structural components, and using Variation Theory, an education theory developed from phenomenographic research, a structure and method for the first fully evidence-based Information Literacy educational intervention for nurses was put forward.
A second stage of the study went on to re-interview a number of participants after having undertaken a nursing Information Literacy course, in order to determine if it is possible to identify any increase in the range of Information Literacy experiences, using a method, though based on phenomenographic principles, that has not been previously employed. The findings were used to suggest a method that could allow such educational interventions to be audited and an individual student’s progress to be described and monitored.
This is the first investigation into the Information Literacy experience of an evidence-based profession as a whole. The findings offer insights into what Information Literacy means to nurses as a profession, how it could be developed and tracked in an evidence-based way, and suggest a modification in how Information Literacy itself should be defined.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	Medicine and health > Nursing
Depositing User:	Marc Forster
Date Deposited:	17 Sep 2015 12:03
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2021 07:18
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1271

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