Else Mari Ruberg Ekra

• Dalsmo, Ingrid Espegren; Laugaland, Kristin Alstveit; Fossum, Mariann; Ravik, Monika; Gonzalez, Marianne Thorsen & Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2024). Student nurses' experiences with a digital educational resource supporting learning in nursing home placements: A qualitative study. Nurse Education Today. ISSN 0260-6917. 140, s. 1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106271.
• Handeland, Jorunn Aas; Prinz, Andreas; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Fossum, Mariann (2023). ‘I realised it when we played with the doll!’: nursing students’ learning from participation in an action research project that included manikins. Educational Action Research. ISSN 0965-0792. doi: 10.1080/09650792.2023.2242425. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This qualitative educational action research study aimed to gain knowledge about nursing students’ learning from participating in a developmental project that included human-like manikins. Twenty-three second-year Bachelor of Nursing students, one teacher, and one researcher participated in the study conducted at a Norwegian university. In collaboration, they planned and executed a developmental project with manikins in a nursing course. The project put manikins’ reflective, explorative, and experiential potentials into play. Two Action Research cycles were carried out. Data were collected using audio recordings, observations, and written responses. The concepts of sayings, doings, and relatings guided the analysis to identify how the modified learning conditions influenced and changed the students’ learning. The following four themes illustrate the students’ learning in the project: ownership of the learning process, collaborative learning, understanding theory’s significance for practice, and taking the patient’s perspective. The student’s participation in the project, including their independent use and exploration of the manikins, provided freedom and responsibility in decision-making, helped them experience problems, fostered creativity, and stimulated inner motivation. This moved their learning in a more practice-relevant direction.

• Handeland, Jorunn Aas; Prinz, Andreas; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Fossum, Mariann (2022). The sense of a patient: An ethnographic multi-site field study exploring the influence of manikins on nursing students' learning. International Journal of Educational Research Open. ISSN 2666-3740. 3. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedro.2021.100110. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  The purpose of this ethnographic study was to gain insight into the influence of full-body human-like manikins on nursing students’ learning. The research question that guided the study was: How do the presence and use of human-like manikins influence nursing students’ learning? Data were collected during 15 educational sessions, using different manikins for various activities. Applying cultural-historical activity theory, this study explored the use of manikins as a mediated activity. The study’s main result was the interplay of five categories. In the first category, manikin as an object, manikins were used to teach and learn technical skills. In the second category, manikin as a subject, manikins were used to teach and learn to perform those skills with care. The third category, the interplay, illustrates how these two approaches were present in all sessions. Category four, the individual learning space, provided students with a feeling of working with a patient. Category five, the collective learning space, awarded collaborative and reflexive learning opportunities. We concluded from this study that manikins may introduce students to the balance between the technical and interpersonal aspects of nursing practice. Being aware of how manikins influence learning, educators can make more targeted use of manikins and support lower-grade nursing students in their learning process and professional development.

• Dalsmo, Ingrid Espegren; Brodtkorb, Kari; Laugaland, Kristin Alstveit; Slettebø, Åshild & Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2022). Learning in nursing home placement: A phenomenological study of student nurses’ lived experience . Journal of Clinical Nursing (JCN). ISSN 0962-1067. doi: 10.1111/jocn.16262. Vis sammendrag

  Aim: To explore first-year student nurses’ lived experience of learning in clinical place-ment in nursing homes.Background: Nursing homes traditionally represent students’ first clinical placement sites during nurse education, and nursing home residents’ care needs can provide op-portunities for student nurses to acquire both fundamental and specialised nursing skills. In clinical placements, students have opportunities to apply and integrate theo-retical knowledge, practical skills and ethical competence in a clinical setting.Design: A qualitative design with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach was em-ployed and reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines.Methods: The study was undertaken at three nursing homes affiliated with one Norwegian university. Close observation (173 h) and in-depth individual interviews (n= 7) with first-year student nurses were conducted to explore their lived experience of learning. Data analysis was guided by van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach.Results: The essential meaning of the phenomenon of learning in clinical placements in a nursing home setting is characterised by four themes: (1) navigating a new and com-plex learning context, (2) being emotionally affected when facing sickness and frailty, (3) having a vital need for support and guidance and (4) being engaged in learning.Conclusions: The findings are discussed against the backdrop of educational learning theory. Learning in clinical placements in nursing homes is a multi-faceted and com-plex phenomenon related to the students’ lived experience on the contextual, rela-tional and individual levels. Overall, our findings demonstrate that learning in clinical placements is part of the process of professional identity development.Relevance to clinical practice: The clinical practice arena should emphasise emotional support for student nurses, enhance their self-directed reflection and explicitly focus on the essence of nursing in nursing homes.

• Handeland, Jorunn Aas; Prinz, Andreas; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Fossum, Mariann (2020). The role of manikins in nursing students' learning: A systematic review and thematic metasynthesis. Nurse Education Today. ISSN 0260-6917. s. 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104661. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Synnes, Oddgeir; Orøy, Aud Jorun; Råheim, Målfrid; Bachmann, Liv; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Gjengedal, Eva [Vis alle 12 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Finding ways to carry on : stories of vulnerability in chronic illness. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. ISSN 1748-2623. 15(1), s. 1–13. doi: 10.1080/17482631.2020.1819635. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Purpose: In this study, we explore the lived experiences of chronic illness in four groups of patients; children with asthma, adolescents with diabetes, young adults with depression, and adult patients with chronic, obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Persons living with chronic illness are often designated as vulnerable. This study builds on the assumption that being vulnerable belongs to being human, and that vulnerability also might entail strength and possibilities for growth. Methods: A narrative analysis was undertaken to illuminate how experiences of vulnerability were narrated across the four patient groups, presenting four individual stories, one from each of the patient groups. Results/conclusion: The stories illuminate how living with a chronic illness implies differing capabilities and capacities dependent on the specific condition. At the same time the stories point to how various abilities and challenges in living with chronic illness can be alleviated or seen as resources. Considered together, the stories underscore how ´finding ways to carry on´ in chronic illness requires interpretational work. By calling upon resources among significant others, in the surroundings and in oneself, the narrator can find ways of interpreting living with chronic illness that might open towards a hopeful future. Keywords: chronic illness, vulnerability, narrative analysis, life

• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Dale, Bjørg (2020). Systematic Use of Song and Music in Dementia Care: Health Care Providers’ Experiences. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare. ISSN 1178-2390. 13, s. 143–151. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S231440. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg; Korsvold, Tora & Gjengedal, Eva (2015). Characteristics of being hospitalized as a child with a new diagnosis of type 1 diabetes: a phenomenological study of children’s past and present experiences. BMC Nursing. ISSN 1472-6955. 14:4, s. 1–10. doi: 10.1186/s12912-014-0051-9. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gjengedal, Eva; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg; Hol, Hege Bente; Kjelsvik, Marianne; Lykkeslet, Else & Michaelsen, Ragnhild K A [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2013). Vulnerability in health care – reflections on encounters in every day practice. Nursing Philosophy. ISSN 1466-7681. 14(2), s. 127–138. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-769X.2012.00558.x. Vis sammendrag

  Vulnerability is a human condition and as such a constant human experience. However, patients and professional health care providers may be regarded as more vulnerable than people who do not suffer or witness suffering on a regular basis. Acquiring a deeper understanding of vulnerability would thus be of crucial importance for health care providers. This article takes as its point of departure Derek Sellman's and Havi Carel's discussion on vulnerability in this journal. Through different examples from the authors' research focusing on the interaction between health professionals and patients, existential, contextual, and relational dimensions of vulnerability are illuminated and discussed. Two main strategies in the professionals' interactions with patients are described. The strategy that aims at understanding the patients or families from the professional's own personal perspective oftentimes ends in excess attention to the professional's own reactions, thereby impairing the ability to help. The other strategy attempts to understand the patients or families from the patients' or families' own perspective. This latter strategy seems to make vulnerability bearable or even transform it into strength. Being sensitive to the vulnerability of the other may be a key to acting ethically.

• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg; Blåka, Gunnhild; Korsvold, Tora & Gjengedal, Eva (2012). Children in an adult world: A phenomenological study of adults and their childhood experiences of being hospitalized with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Journal of Child Health Care. ISSN 1367-4935. 16(4), s. 395–405. doi: 10.1177/1367493512446315. Vis sammendrag

  Hospital conditions for children have changed dramatically over the last decades. Until recently, hospitalised children were left without their parents in an environment that was not adapted to children. In the period 1950–1980, hospitalised children did not have a voice. The aim of this Norwegian study was to use adult memories of childhood hospitalisation to investigate the influences of the hospital environment on the experiences of children. The study had a qualitative design and used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Twelve adults who were 5½ to 12 years old when they were first hospitalised with type 1 diabetes were interviewed. The participants described their hospital stays as representing a life in an adult world. They encountered an unfamiliar place where it was challenging to be abandoned in an adult hospital community with a serious and exhausting illness. The results underscore the need to incorporate children’s perspectives to achieve a ‘child friendly’ environment in the hospital. Thirty years later there still may be a tension between the adults’ responsibility to protect children and the children’s own right to participation in decision-making. To understand current practices, it is important to know our historical past.

• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Gjengedal, Eva (2012). Being hospitalized with a newly diagnosed chronic illness- A phenomenological study of children's lifeworld in the hospital. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. ISSN 1748-2623. 7. doi: 10.3402/qhw.v7i0.18694. Vis sammendrag

  The impact of a hospital environment on children has rarely been investigated. Recently, however, the perspective of hospitalized children has been taken into account. Being hospitalized and facing an illness represent a dramatic change in a child’s daily life, and the quality of the environment may influence the child’s experiences. The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of children being hospitalized with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and to obtain an increased understanding of the environmental influences on the children’s lifeworld. The study used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The design is a combination of observation of the participant, interviews, and photographs. Nine children, aged between 7 and 12 years, participated in the study. The data were collected between October 2008 and February 2010 and analysed in accordance with thematic analysis as described by van Manen. The children experienced change through recognition and adaptation. They perceived the environment as strange but still comfortable because of the ‘‘child-friendly’’ atmosphere, close contact with their relatives, and access to private space. The children were gradually able to adapt to their new life; they perceived their illness through bodily changes and developed practical skills and understanding. The findings underscored the necessity for an emphasis on the mutual relationship between the body and its environment. Bodily changes that occur during illness may lead to changes in one’s perception of the environment. Children seem to be particularly affected when the body appears alien and the hospital environment is unfamiliar. A well-adapted environment, active involvement, and the incorporation of new habits are significant elements of gradually returning to a more familiar life. However, the child’s new life requires alertness to the body’s signals and acclimation to a demanding diabetes treatment regime. All these factors remind children of their body’s needs and experiences and influence their lifeworld.

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• Laugaland, Kristin Alstveit; Aase, Ingunn; Ravik, Monika; Gonzalez, Marianne; Frøiland, Christina Tølbøl & Ingrid, espegren dalsmo [Vis alle 8 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2022). DigiPrax.
• Dalsmo, Ingrid Espegren; Brodtkorb, Kari; Laugaland, Kristin Alstveit; Slettebø, Åshild & Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2022). A phenomenological study of student nurses’ lived experience of learning in clinical placement.
• Dalsmo, Ingrid Espegren; Laugaland, Kristin Alstveit; Slettebø, Åshild; Billett, Stephen & Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2022). Student nurses experience of supervision and assessment practices during clinical placement – a qualitative study using video-stimulated interviews .
• Handeland, Jorunn Aas; Prinz, Andreas; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Fossum, Mariann (2021). The role of manikins in nursing students' learning - A systematic review and thematic metasynthesis.
• Gjengedal, Eva; Bachmann, Liv; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg; Høye, Magnhild Mjåvatn; Jørgensen, Else & Lykkeslet, Else [Vis alle 12 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2017). Vulnerability as an existential challenge in chronic illness : a balance between self and others.
• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2004). Kommunikasjon og veiledning (bokanmeldelse). ?. s. 96–97.
• Fossum, Mariann; Prinz, Andreas & Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2024). Manikins Mediate Lifelong Learning Skills in Nursing Education: A Qualitative Exploration of How Manikins Influence Nursing Students’ Learning. Universitetet i Agder. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg & Gjengedal, Eva (2015). Ha armslag og være omsluttet. En livsverdensfenomenologisk studie om erfaringer av å være innlagt i sykehus som barn med nyoppdaget diabetes i perioden 1950-1980 og i dag. Universitetet i Bergen. ISSN 978-82-308-2662-1.
• Hansen, Linda Iren Mihaila; Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg; Krøger, Elsebeth; Dale, Jan Gunnar; Andaas, Eli & Leland, Arne (2005). Selvevaluering av bachelorgradsstudie i sykepleie ved studiested Arendal.
• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2004). Sykehus - et beboelig sted for barn? : en fenomenologisk studie om omgivelsenes betydning for hvordan barnet opplever en sykehusinnleggelse.
• Ekra, Else Mari Ruberg (2000). Empati, sykepleie og veiledning. Veiledernettverket i Agder, Årbok. ISSN 8271174320.

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