The BCcampus Research Fellows program provides support for B.C. post-secondary educators to conduct research on improving student learning and to share their results and experiences with peers in B.C. and beyond.
Project Lead/Fellow: Darryn DiFrancesco
Institution: University of Northern British Columbia
Project Title: The Art of Death: Graphic Memoirs as Pedagogical Tools in Nursing Education
Research Focus: Nursing students often encounter death and dying for the first time in clinical settings, which can be jarring and cause psychological distress. Although Canadian nursing schools report incorporating death into the curriculum, students consistently report feeling unprepared to deal with death in clinical environments, suggesting that more ought to be done. Part of the challenge is that death is a multi-faceted event that is not simply medical in nature, but that requires cultural, social, emotional, and spiritual sensitivity, alongside adequate coping skills.
To address these challenges, this pilot study explores the use of the graphic novel/memoir as a pedagogical tool to support death-related emotional preparedness and compassionate care in first-year nursing students. Research indicates that storytelling may be an effective pedagogical approach that positively affects nursing students’ attitudes towards death.
This pilot project has two key objectives: (1) to explore the usefulness of graphic memoirs as a pedagogical tool to enhance first-year nursing students’ emotional preparedness for end-of-life care, and (2) to develop Open Educational Resources (OER), including an instructor’s guide, to support broader curricular integration of comics into the classroom.
Biography: Darryn DiFrancesco, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the school of nursing at the University of Northern British Columbia. She previously worked as a social science educator for over 12 years at Northern Lights College and Thompson Rivers University – Open Learning. Darryn is passionate about accessible education and is trained as an instructional skills workshop facilitator. Her research interests centre around culture, health, environment, and communication.