The Effects of Bibliotherapy in Nursing Students

Therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is essential in nursing practice. This study investigated the effects of bibliotherapy on self-esteem, emotional awareness, and empathy, which are required capacities for therapeutic relationship, in nursing students in Korea.

Forty one freshman nursing students were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n=21) or the control group (n=20). Eight sessions of 90-minute bibliotherapy was provided to the experimental group for 4 weeks in 2014. Rosenberg self-esteem scale, Trait Meta-mood Scale, and interpersonal reactivity index were used to measure self-esteem, emotional awareness, and empathy respectively. Descriptive statistics, χ2-test, Fisher's exact test, ttests, and ANCOVA were conducted using SPSS statistics 21.0.

Significant differences in the scores of self-esteem (t=2.108, p=.041) and emotional awareness (t=4.767, p<.001) were identified between the two groups after 4 weeks of bibliotherapy, but the levels of empathy were not significantly different between the groups (t=1.540, p=.134). However, subscale analysis of empathy showed that empathic concern was significantly different (F=9.970, t=.003). Self-awareness, self-worth, empathy, and awareness of boundaries and limits of professional role are necessary capacities to establish therapeutic nurse-patient relationships in practice. In this study, self-esteem and emotional awareness increased significantly through bibliotherapy. Therefore, bibliotherapy can be one of the methods in cultivating some of these capabilities for nursing students.

This study suggests that bibliotherapy could be helpful for nursing students, particularly in building therapeutic relationships with patients, by promoting their self-esteem and emotional awareness.