Nurse educators' experiences of fostering undergraduate students' ability to manage stress and demanding situations: A phenomenological inquiry.

AIM

To understand the lived experience of nurse educators when mitigating nursing students' stress and fostering their ability to manage demanding situations.

BACKGROUND

Supporting and advocating for nursing students during their stressful and challenging times is one of the core competencies of nurse educators. Much of the research has focused on understanding nursing students' views and experiences of managing their stress. No research could be found to have explored the role and contribution of nurse educators in managing student well-being and supporting them during demanding situations.

DESIGN

A hermeneutic phenomenology was conducted in Pakistan. The COREQ guidelines were followed for reporting.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted from February to May 2021 with a purposive sample of 13 nurse educators with atleast a bachelor's degree in nursing or a three-year diploma with one-year specialization and at least three months of teaching experience in educational or clinical settings. Data were analyzed using Ricoeur's interpretation theory. The three steps included: (a) explanation, (b) naïve understanding and (c) in-depth understanding.

RESULTS

Six themes captured educators' experience: Sharing personal experiences, developing a trustworthy relationship, creating a stress-sharing culture, demonstrating stress management, encouraging to speak up and confront and prompting management to address student issues. Policymakers and management should collaborate with educators to strengthen existing mechanisms and revisit the policies directed toward supporting students in managing their clinical and academic stress.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurse educators should continue to play their part by creating a stress-sharing culture, sharing personal experiences and enhancing student stress management abilities by teaching through demonstration and building their courage to speak up for their issues. Nursing institutions should develop policies to expand nurse educators' role in supporting student stress management. Institutions also need to collaborate with educators to establish mechanisms and resources to mitigate student stress.