Improved mouthcare is reportedly needed in hospitals to prevent Ventilator Associated Pneumonia. Subconscious attitudes and emotions can influence behaviour but the influence of subconscious responses on nurses’ mouthcare provision has received little attention. The aim of this study was to explore subconscious responses to mouthcare image stimuli in a population of student nurses. This involved comparing subconscious responses to oral care stimuli between those who did and did not intend to provide mouthcare for patients and those who expressed stronger or weaker attitudes and emotions towards mouthcare scenarios.
Method:
Following a pilot study, 41 student nurse participants completed a questionnaire for mouthcare attitudes, emotions and intentions. They then undertook 90 computerised Stroop image trials using neutral, clean and unclean mouth images in blocks of 10, delivered in random order. The response time to identify the lateral position of each image on screen was recorded for each trial. Data were analysed using a repeated measures ANOVA.
Result:
There were significant differences between reaction times for tests with different mouthcare stimuli (F(1.6, 67)=5.4 p=0.01),with greater response latency for unclean images. There were no differences in Stroop responses between those reporting intending and those not intending to provide mouthcare. There were no differences in subconscious responses between those who expressed greater and those who expressed less emotion towards mouthcare.
Conclusion:
Unclean mouthcare stimuli evoke subconscious reactions in student nurses. Those expressing greater emotions have similar subconscious responses to those who reportedly feel little, suggesting varying awareness or reporting of emotion. Findings also indicate that most student nurses choose to provide mouthcare irrespective of their subconscious feelings. This suggests that those who provide care are better able to overcome subconscious feelings. Further investigations to explore mechanisms to cope with subconscious responses to mouthcare are recommended to inform training for nurses providing mouthcare.