Perceptions of the possible impact of dyslexia on nursing and midwifery students and of the coping strategies they develop and/or use to help them cope in clinical practice.

This qualitative grounded theory case study aimed to explore the perceptions of the impact of dyslexia on nursing and midwifery students and of the coping strategies they develop and/or use to help them cope in practice. The questions addressed were: 1. What is the perceived impact of dyslexia on the nursing and midwifery student in clinical practice? 2. How are any difficulties associated with dyslexia managed by the nursing or midwifery student? 3i. What strategies can help and support nursing and midwifery students with dyslexia? 3ii. What are students' and mentors' perceptions of the poster guidelines used by mentors to support nursing and midwifery students with dyslexia in the clinical practice? Having obtained ethical approval for the research and participants informed written consent, a purposive sample of 12 nursing and midwifery students and 22 mentors participated in the study. Data were collected by digitally recorded semi-structured interviews, content analysis of students' practice portfolios and files from students. Evaluative comments from mentors were also collected. Data were analysed using Glasarian grounded theory method. Dyslexia impacted on the students practice negatively and positively. They developed and used simple and other strategies, including those on the poster guidelines, which were evaluated positively.