Mentoring Experiences of New Nontenured Faculty in Undergraduate Nursing: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Mentoring is crucial for professional development and retention of newly hired nurse faculty, yet little is known about the actual mentoring experiences of clinical nurses in their first few years following transition into academic teaching. METHOD: Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with 23 full-time nontenure-track faculty from 10 higher education institutions in seven states in the United States. All of the faculty were in the first 3 years of teaching in 4-year undergraduate nursing programs. RESULTS: Five themes emerged: (1) chaotic work environments characterized by unpredictable workloads, absence of reliable support, and inconsistent access to information; (2) a de facto do-it-yourself system in which nurses pieced together their own support; (3) reliance on personal social networks; (4) yearning for real mentorship; and (5) future plans about staying in the role. CONCLUSION: A gap exists between widely touted recommendations about mentoring and the reality of mentoring for newly hired nontenure-track faculty. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(8):525-532.].

Educator-to-student incivility in online nursing education during COVID-19 as reported by nursing students: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Educators' incivility in online nursing education is a serious academic issue; much of it is still unknown as it occurs in a less supervised environment. AIM: This study examined variables and differences in educator-to-student incivility in online nursing education during COVID-19, as reported by nursing students. METHODS: Utilizing the Incivility in Online Learning Environments (IOLE) online survey, a cross-sectional design was used to collect data in 2021 from a convenience sample of 163 nursing students studying in different universities in Jordan. Version 25 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to generate descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: As reported by nursing students, there was a low degree of incivility among nursing educators in online nursing education, 45(range 23-92), and a moderate frequency in the past 12 months, 63(range 23-92). Around 37.00 % of students thought incivility in online nursing education was a mild problem. On a scale of 0-100, 63.00 % of the students reported the level of nursing educators' civility in online nursing education ranged from 50.00 % to 70.00 % (an average of 60.00 %). Differences in students' reporting of online nursing educators' incivility and its' frequencies were significantly influenced by students' grade point averages (GPA) and genders, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although nursing students have a positive sense of civility among their nursing educators, incivility in online nursing education should be zero-level and disclosed and treated at its early signs.

Supporting nursing faculty to teach veteran's care: a mixed method, multi-intervention study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to (a) describe nurse educators' attitudes towards veterans after workshop participation, (b) evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop and timed digital interventions (TDI) on nurse educators' integration of veteran-centered content into their courses and curricula, and (c) describe nurse educators' experiences with transferring learning from the workshop to teaching practice. METHODS: A longitudinal multi-intervention, multi-method pilot study was conducted using pre- and post-workshop surveys and interviews. RESULTS: Twenty-six nurse faculty reported a neutral attitude toward working with veterans during the pre-workshop survey period. TDIs kept veteran-centered content fresh on faculty minds, yielding evidence of integration into nursing courses. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing faculty preparation and development is crucial to effectively integrate specific veteran care content into nursing education to ensure a competent and culturally sensitive workforce. Integrating TDIs using widely accessible technologies is a cost-effective way of increasing engagement with new information and bridge implementation gaps associated with traditional professional development activities.

Trigger Warnings in Nursing Education: Psychiatric Mental Health Instructors' Practices and Perspectives.

ABSTRACT: Psychiatric mental health (PMH) nursing education covers topics that some students find potentially distressing and anxiety-producing. Trigger warnings are commonly found in entertainment and social media venues, but there is little research to explore the use of trigger/content warnings in undergraduate nursing education. This current research surveyed PMH nursing instructors ( n = 48) and found that most give trigger warnings and believe them to be helpful. However, there is no consistency on how and when warnings are provided, nor their content. Overall, results indicate that trigger warnings may be one aspect of implementing supportive and trauma-informed pedagogy.

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Educators' Perceptions of Teaching Dissociative Disorders: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although the prevalence of dissociative disorders (DDs) is up to 10 percent of the general population, psychiatric-mental health (PMH) registered nurses lack education on how to care for individuals diagnosed with these disorders. METHOD: Sixty-two PMH nurse educators completed an anonymous online survey about their perceptions of teaching DDs to nursing students. Braun and Clarke's six-phase framework was used to conduct an inductive, reflexive thematic analysis of the data. RESULTS: Three primary themes were identified: lack of resources, differing opinions on the value of teaching DDs, and stigma. CONCLUSION: Though roughly 75 percent of participants reported that they teach DDs to their nursing students, they endorsed concerning misperceptions about the diagnoses. By failing to properly educate future PMH RNs about DDs, individuals with DDs are at risk of receiving inadequate and inappropriate nursing care and experiencing poor outcomes.

Supporting Mental Health Well-Being in the Most Vulnerable Future Nurses.

AIM: The aim of the study was to explore relationships between perceived faculty support and prevalence of severe/extremely severe depression, anxiety, and stress levels among undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students. BACKGROUND: Emerging research supports nursing students suffering from extreme psychological distress. Educational success and mental health wellness are influenced by external support. METHOD: A mixed-methods design was used for this descriptive, cross-sectional study. A national convenience sample of 1,163 undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, Perceived Faculty Support Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Emerging themes in the qualitative data were identified. RESULTS: Nearly 54 percent of nursing students suffered from severe/extremely severe depression, anxiety, or stress. Faculty support was critical to nursing student mental health well-being. CONCLUSION: This multisite study provides a better understanding of the enormity of psychological distress among undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students and emphasizes the immediate need for faculty to provide necessary support to this vulnerable student population.

Prior knowledge of students: essential aspects that a nursing expert professor identifies, interprets, and organizes to foster learning.

Objective: To analyze the essential aspects that the nursing expert professor identifies, interprets, and organizes during classroom dialogic processes with students to foster their learning. Methods: Qualitative study, part of a multicenter study, which used ethnography of communication specifically from a micro-ethnographic approach. An expert professor from the Faculty of Nursing at a public university in Medellín, Colombia, was selected for the study. The fieldwork was done in three stages: 1:non-participant observations in two in-person classes of the Morphophysiology course recorded on video from two different perspectives (one focusing on the professor and another on the students); 2:think-aloud interviews with the professor and five students (three from the first class and two from the second) who spontaneously started more than two communicative interactions with the professor during the classes; and 3:parallel transcriptions, organized in didactic sequences (videos). The analysis was supported by the unit Student-Professor (identification-evaluation-answer) Student [S-P(i-e-a)S'], and by continuous comparisons of the data. Results: Four categories were identified: 1: Identification of essential aspects: importance of prior knowledge, 2: Interpretation: connection between essential aspects and students' mental processes, 3: Organization of the answer: connection between prior knowledge and new knowledge, and: 4: Synchronization with the learning needs of the students, which were grouped in a meta-category: Prior knowledge of the students: essential aspects for learning. Conclusion: Students' experiential prior knowledge constitutes the essential aspects identified, interpreted, and organized by the expert professor to achieve significant learning.

Strategies for enhancing Chinese students' engagement in a large class learning environment: An interpretative phenomenological approach.

AIM: It is common for Chinese students to sit quietly during classroom lectures, attentively following teachers' instructions without interacting or asking questions, viewed as passive engagement. This study aims to understand further the passive engagement of Chinese students in relation to classroom questioning, just-in-time feedback and collaborative activities. With objectives to formulate strategies to enhance Chinese students' engagement in a large class learning environment without undermining the cultural dimension of "face". BACKGROUND: Engaging in collaborative educational activities between teachers and students can be challenging in a large classroom learning environment. Within the Chinese context, Confucian-heritage culture may further exacerbate the challenges teachers face. Chinese students often appear passive when responding to questions. In this situation, educators may receive insufficient student feedback to modify and optimise their teaching and learning approaches. DESIGN: A qualitative research method, with an interpretative phenomenological approach was employed in a self-financed institute of higher education in Hong Kong. METHODS: Eight nursing graduates were invited to participate in two focus group interviews to generate teaching and learning strategies. In addition, individual in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve nursing teachers recruited through a snowballing sampling strategy. The narratives were coded, categorised, themed, analysed and interpreted through thematic analysis. RESULTS: Chinese students are concerned with "losing face" and the fear of being teased by their peers in a collectivist culture. Based on these findings, three teaching and learning strategies for engaging students in classroom questioning and collaborative activities were generated. These strategies include using digital learning platforms, the promotion of communication and fostering interpersonal relationships. CONCLUSIONS: In higher education, academic managers and teachers must critically reflect on teaching and learning strategies tailor-made to different cultural and contextual settings. Collaborating on pedagogical reforms can provide solid guidance and insight on implementing student-centred learning for Chinese students in large class learning environments while respecting the cultural dimension of "face".

The Effects of Structured Mentorship and Onboarding of Novice Nursing Faculty.

BACKGROUND: The United States currently is experiencing a nursing faculty shortage that greatly affects the number of nurses entering professional practice. Nurse faculty transitioning from clinical practice to academia face challenges that may have negative effects on job satisfaction and feelings of competence. Despite barriers, quality nursing faculty are needed. METHOD: This quality improvement project evaluated the effects of an 8-week structured onboarding mentorship on novice nursing faculty's job satisfaction and feelings of competence. Novice faculty were paired with a mentor and completed weekly meetings and an online on-boarding curriculum based on National League for Nursing Nurse Educator Core Competencies. A pretest-posttest design assessed feelings of competence and job satisfaction before and after the 8-week intervention. RESULTS: Findings indicated increased feelings of competence and no change in job satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Outcomes demonstrate how mentorship and structured orientation can positively benefit novice faculty's experiences and competence during their transition into academia. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(6):405-408.].

Self-Care in Nursing Education.

BACKGROUND: The mental health of students and faculty has become a growing issue in academia. Faculty need to provide role-modeling early in nursing programs to enhance psychological well-being for future nurses that will have lasting effects throughout their careers. METHOD: A total of 29 faculty members participated in a descriptive study investigating types of self-care goals and how they could be achieved by College of Nursing faculty during their annual performance appraisal. RESULTS: Seventy-three percent of respondents reported they anticipated that achieving these self-care goals would enhance their faculty role. Further, the respondents associated achievement of self-care goals as a way to improve their faculty performance. CONCLUSION: Since every individual has a unique perspective of the world, a self-care approach that works for one person might not work for another. Self-care goals should therefore be tailored to the unique needs and perspectives of each person. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(6):394-398.].

Using Cognitive Rehearsal to Address Faculty Incivility in Nursing Academe.

BACKGROUND: Faculty-to-faculty incivility is a national and global problem. Recent studies examining faculty incivility in nursing academe found that respondents expressed emotional and physical distress stemming from workplace incivility, and most avoid dealing with the problem. A top strategy for improving workplace civility includes providing ongoing education to improve communication skills. PROBLEM: Faculty and academic nurse leaders require evidence-based strategies to prevent and address the range of uncivil behaviors occurring in academic work environments. APPROACH: Cognitive Rehearsal (CR) is a primary prevention and intervention communication strategy used to address incivility in health care and educational settings. Working with a skilled facilitator, participants practice addressing stressful situations in a non-threatening environment. This is the first known publication using CR to address faculty-to-faculty incivility. CONCLUSIONS: The author uses real-life situations derived from faculty-to-faculty incivility research studies and in-person conversations to describe each step of the CR process.

Achievement Goal Theory and Mindsets: Keys for Competency Development in Nursing.

BACKGROUND: Many nursing schools are transitioning to a competency-based model due to the increasing complexity of medical information, skills, task acuities, and cognitive overload. PROBLEM: Nursing faculty may not be familiar with the synergy between achievement goal theory and the growth mindset (GM) model to prepare nursing students within a competency-based model effectively. APPROACH: This article presents a persuasive argument for how integrating achievement goal theory and the GM model could effectively foster mastery goals essential for competency development. CONCLUSIONS: Mastery goals, a component of the GM model, can be used as tangible indicators for assessing and evaluating competency development.

Cross sectional survey of attitudes on sustainability and climate change among baccalaureate nursing faculty and students.

BACKGROUND: Nurse educators are critical to ensuring future nurses are prepared to meet healthcare needs due to climate change. AIM: The purpose of this research was to assess the attitudes of nursing students and faculty on sustainability and climate change in nursing and nursing education. DESIGN: This study used a descriptive, cross-sectional online survey of nursing students and faculty recruited online and at national conferences. SETTINGS: Online survey. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of students and faculty were recruited from a national student nursing convention and a national meeting of community health nursing educators along with the principal investigator's university. Additional faculty were recruited from national nursing education organization email listservs. Eligibility criteria included adults 18 years or older who are enrolled students or faculty in an undergraduate nursing program. METHODS: Participants completed the Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey (SANS_2) survey online. Survey responses were downloaded and analyzed using IBM SPSS. RESULTS: Independent sample Mann-Whitney U tests of responses from faculty and students was significantly different, p = 0.047, for the question "Issues about climate change should be included in the nursing curriculum". Comparison of SANS_2 overall means from first-year nursing students in other countries showed lower mean scores among first-year U.S. students that climate and sustainability are important issues of nursing and nursing education. Comparison of faculty overall SANS_2 means found greater support for including climate change and sustainability among U.S. nursing faculty when compared with faculty from South Carolina. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the survey found differences in support among baccalaureate faculty and students for including climate change and sustainability in nursing education. Additional research into the effectiveness of learning activities needs to be done by nurse educators and researchers as part of on-going efforts to ensure future nursing students understand the impact of climate change on health.

The transition of clinical nurses to nurse educator roles - A scoping review.

AIM: To explore what is known about the lived experiences of novice nurse educators, including preparation or support strategies that may assist this transition. BACKGROUND: Despite the crucial role of nurse educators in healthcare, the literature lacks clarity about the role and the preparation and support of nurse clinicians to transition into novice nurse educator roles. DESIGN: Scoping review METHODS: A scoping review was carried out according to the Joanna Briggs Institute Methodology for Scoping Reviews. The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature Complete (CINAHL), Medline (OVID), EMBASE, APA PsycINFO and Google Scholar databases were searched for English language sources of evidence between 1992 and 2022. Sources of evidence related to nursing education, transition, lived experience, preparation and support were included. RESULTS: Fifty-two sources of evidence met the inclusion criteria with most originating in the United States and situated in the academic setting. There were 20 different titles used to identify nurse educators and a lack of clarity relating to the role and its expectations. There was alignment found between the lived experiences of novice nurse educators and Duchscher's transition shock model with a variety of preparation and support recommendations identified to mitigate this transition shock. CONCLUSION: Clinical nurses transitioning into novice nurse educator roles have a predominantly negative experience that aligns with Duchscher's transition shock model. Although recommendations exist for support and preparation strategies to ease this transition shock, further research is required to establish which of these strategies are effective, especially for novice nurse educators in clinical settings outside of the United States.

Contemporary issue: Starting nurse suicide prevention during pre-licensure education.

BACKGROUND: Undergraduate nursing students are at a high risk for mental health challenges, suicidal behaviors, and risk factors. High stress levels and personal and academic pressure may lead to mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder in undergraduate nursing students. Nursing students experience barriers to mental health such as lack of support, academic burnout, and stigma. AIM: This paper presents the components for a comprehensive suicide prevention plan that nursing faculty can implement into pre-licensure nurse education. METHOD: The acrostic "PLAN TO TALK" can be used to create a comprehensive suicide prevention plan that can be implemented by undergraduate nursing faculty. "PLAN" emphasizes creating a trusting environment for students. "TO" focuses on active involvement in suicide prevention education and awareness. "TALK" suggests strategies for faculty to implement within their curriculum. CONCLUSION: Addressing nurse suicide during pre-licensure nurse education is essential. By implementing the "PLAN TO TALK" strategy, faculty can create a safe environment, equip faculty and students with suicide prevention resources and crisis intervention skills, and contribute to the overall mental health of students.

Communities of reflection in nurse education programs: A qualitative multi-methods study.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students often face challenges reconciling theoretical concepts with clinical realities. This study examines a novel concept 'Communities of Reflection' designed and tested to enhance coherency between theory and practice. The concept involves reflection groups comprising students, preceptors, and faculty during clinical placements. AIM: To examine the meaning of 'Communities of Reflection' regarding the coherency between theory and practice as perceived by the involved participants. METHOD: A qualitative multi-methods approach involved nursing students, preceptors, and faculty members who participated in 'Communities of Reflection.' Data collection methods included interviews, focus groups, written reflections, and observations. FINDINGS: The content analysis revealed that 'Communities of Reflection' facilitate a shared engagement in nursing, fostering a deeper level of reflection. Creating a safe space and embracing vulnerability are key aspects of this shared engagement. CONCLUSION: 'Communities of Reflection' offer a valuable framework for promoting coherency between theory and practice. It appears to be crucial to students' outcomes that a well-established, equitable theory-practice partnership is the solid foundation, acknowledging that emotions can serve as a catalyst for the development of professional expertise.

Test Analysis Through the Lens of Objective Compassion.

ABSTRACT: Test construction and test reviews are responsibilities nursing faculty arduously undertake, with an obligation to give appropriate effort and time to prepare and review exams. During test review, item analysis and statistical analysis offer valuable empirical information about the exam. However, objective compassion is also needed and can be demonstrated through careful test question construction and item analysis. Furthermore, compassion is needed in preparing students for the Next Generation NCLEX-RN (NGN) and constructing exams that appropriately test students' clinical judgment.

Nursing students' and faculty's experiences of first medication administration: A phenomenological inquiry.

BACKGROUND: Learning medication administration is essential for nursing students, but the first time can be stressful and shape their clinical development. Previous research primarily focused on student knowledge and technical aspects. PURPOSE: This phenomenological study helped explore the lived experiences of nursing students and faculty during student's first medication administration in the clinical setting to gain a deeper understanding of their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with female student and faculty informants (N = 12). Using a phenomenological study, data were analyzed using van Manen's hermeneutic six-step research activity method. RESULTS: Five overarching themes were found: administrating medication, (un)preparedness for complexities in the clinical environment, transformative experience, overcoming fears, and reaping the rewards. CONCLUSION: First-time medication experiences are greater than an exercise in skill proficiency and may be improved if faculty provides more structured learning experiences and take sufficient time for student preparation in relating medication knowledge to the skill, technology usage, and supporting students' attitudes toward nurse-patient interactions. These are essential aspects of the medication administration learning process as nursing programs shift toward competency-based education. Clinical faculty also need support in their role as educators and to be facilitated to find this time, considering their multiple responsibilities.