[Factors influencing the collaboration between clinical instructors and teachers in nursing practicum].

Several ideas based on unification have been proposed for collaboration between clinical practice and education, but as they are difficult to adopt they have not become widespread. It is possible for practicum instructors and nursing school teachers to collaborate even when the practicum take place in institutions other than the nursing school, so an improvement in the quality of practicum can be expected. In this study, 384 practicum instructors in 34 institutions were surveyed to determine the criteria for collaboration between practicum instructors and nursing school teachers. We analyzed the "configuration factors", "characteristics", "influential factors" and "level of influence of the factors". We derived 3 major factors, "decision making", "cooperativeness", and "information sharing" and, 28 items as the configuration factors and found that although there was some collaboration it was insufficient. The factors that have a large influence on the level of collaboration have been suggested: the diverse number of curricula that one post accepts; the frequency of meetings; training that respects the students' understanding; participation and guidance in conferences; participation of practicum instructors and head of ward nurses in meetings; and educators' system of practicum guidance.

[Effectiveness of learning of nursing-work as early exposure by the 1st year medical students at a university hospital].

We conducted a half day program included in the subject of "nursing and care" as early exposure at clinical sites for the 1st year medical students at a university hospital. This program aimed at understanding what nursing is through visit for study and what patients expect through doctor-patient communication. In order to evaluate the program and to clarify problems to be solved, comments and impressions reported by the medical students were analyzed qualitatively and inductively. As a result, we found that the students recognized the importance of communication with patients and of mental care for them. As for nursing, the students also realized the characteristics and significance of nursing. It is noteworthy that they acquired clear images of a medical doctor, including their roles in team-based medical care. We conclude that this program of early exposure to clinical sites is instructive for 1st year medical students.

[Factors influencing student nurses' emotions toward children and their concept of motherhood].

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the emotions of student nurses toward children in order to apply the results to their practical training, since the opportunity for contact with children has been decreasing in recent years due to the declining birth rate. 278 student nurses completed a self-administered anonymous questionnaire that consisted of their background, such as living with children and experience of contact with children, their learning process, such as finished lectures and nursing training in child and maternal care or not, 28 items from Hanazawa's scale of emotions toward children, and 27 items for the concept of motherhood. The obtained data was analyzed using the SPSS 12.0J for Windows with the Spearman's correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test. The valid recovery was 121 (43.5%). The negative point for the concept of motherhood was significantly lower in the group that had finished nursing training in child and maternal care than in the group without such training. On the other hand, living with children and experience of contact with children did not influence their emotions toward children or concept of motherhood. The results of this study suggest that the experiences that student nurses have some deliberate and active contacts with children and mothers during their nursing training in child and maternal care have an influence on their concept of motherhood.

[Influence of inclusive child day-care on nursery school teachers: a questionnaire survey of teachers with experience in inclusive child day-care in K City].

The purpose of this survey questionnaire is to investigate the factors influencing how nursery school teachers perceive inclusive child day-care in K City in order to qualify what support we can provide. The questionnaire was sent to nursery school teachers with experience in inclusive child day-care in K City. Three hundred seventeen teachers provided sufficient data for analysis. The results of this survey suggest that teachers perceive inclusive child day-care to lead up to self-development and the pleasure of child-caring. On the other hand, they feel a burden of inclusive child day-care, with teachers in their 40 s feeling a stronger burden than teachers in their 20 s. And teachers with experience in taking care of emotionally disturbed children or teachers with experience in taking care of hearing-impaired children feel a stronger burden than teachers without experience in taking care of them. The results of our survey also suggest that it is necessary for support systems to have special knowledge about disabled children and special ways of caring, and to decrease teachers' burden or dissatisfaction with inclusive child day-care.

[Actual condition survey on inclusive child day-care--a questionnaire survey of child day-care facilities in K city].

The purpose of this questionnaire survey is to gather information on actual conditions of inclusive child day-care in K City in order to qualify what support we can provide as part of the community. The questionnaire was sent to 148 child-care facilities (day nurseries) in date, of which 116 provided sufficient data for analysis. Of these 116 facilities, 104 (89.7%) accepted children with disabilities, while 12 (10.3%) did not. The number of disabled children accepted by the 104 facilities over a 2.5-year period was 275. Mental retardation (including children with multiple disabilities) was the most common type of disability; autism, physical disability and cerebral palsy were also seen. Thus, nursery staff, whose training is largely geared toward education and child development, is faced with a particularly difficult task. What we envisage as one of our future roles is to train and provide nursing experts with a specialized knowledge of medical rehabilitation, day-to-day medical care, training and support of children with various types of disabilities. Such nurses could then be introduced to child day-care facilities to provide individualized child-care services, which would take into account all factors relating to the child's condition and developmental stage. The results of our survey also suggest that close coordination and partnership with specialized/related agencies and institutions should be pursued in order to both enrich the support systems of child day-care facilities and to enhance their inclusiveness.