Student–teacher connection in clinical nursing education

Abstract

Student–teacher connection in clinical nursing education Background. The trend toward humanistic nursing education has called for a transformed student–teacher relationship that fosters learning and growth of students and teachers. Although such a relationship has been claimed to form the basis for student–teacher connection and to be a positive influence on students’ learning outcomes, there is a paucity of research exploring these claims. Neither the nature of student–teacher connection nor the processes by which it occurs have been described. Aims. A research study was undertaken to explore and describe undergraduate nursing students’ experiences of connection within the student–teacher relationship and the effects of student–teacher connection on students’ learning experiences in clinical nursing education. Research design. The qualitative research approach of interpretive description was chosen for this study. Unstructured interviews and a focus group were used to collect data from eight undergraduate nursing students. Data were analysed using the process of constant comparative analysis, and revealed four interrelated major categories that formed a description of the students’ experience of student–teacher connection. Findings. This article presents part of the findings of this study. After describing the nature of student–teacher connection, the discussion focuses on the influence of teachers and other factors on the formation of student–teacher connection. Relevance is given to this discussion by describing the outcomes of connection for students’ clinical learning experiences.