Development and Preliminary Evaluation of the Effects of a Preceptor Reflective Practice Program: A Mixed-Method Research

Abstract

Studies on methods to share nursing and learning experiences with preceptors are lacking. This study was conducted to determine the preliminary effects of developing and applying a reflective practice program for preceptor nurses who experience stressful situations to convert negative emotions into positive ones. This study was conducted over 12 weeks from March to May 2022 on 47 participant nurses in South Korea. Preceptor Reflective Practice Program (PRPP) was conducted in parallel with writing a reflective journal and a reflective practice workshop. Data collection was integrated through quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires on stress coping, the burden of preceptors, social support, and emotional intelligence, and analyzed by SPSS WIN 26.0 program. The questionnaire data were analyzed after the preceptor nurses had written a reflective journal. Stress coping, social support, and emotional intelligence significantly increased in preceptor nurses after participating in the PRPP. This study found that the PRPP helped nurses improve their emotional intelligence through reflective practice and convert stress into a more positive direction. Therefore, at the organizational and national levels, a reasonable compensation system to provide support workforce and to the work of preceptor nurses should be established.

Effectiveness of a preceptors' social support program to aid novice nurses' error experience on preceptors' skill and novice nurses' perception of social support: A quasi‐experimental study

“…This study was conducted to evaluate the PSSP, a program which enables preceptors to enhance their social support skills, in particular supportive relationships and post‐error support skill, lessening the negative effects of novice nurses' error experiences in transition. The ages and gender ratio of novice nurses, and the ages, clinical experience, and gender ratio of preceptors participating in this study were similar to those in past research (Chen et al, 2021; Kim et al, 2022), and thus, the participants in this study were considered similar to preceptors and novice nurses more generally.…”

“…To determine the sample size of preceptors and novice nurses, results from relevant studies were used. Data from a preceptor program from Kim et al (2022) was used to calculate an effect size of 0.49 for preceptors in the pre-post design. For the two-group design, data from a preceptor program by Hu et al (2015) was used to calculate an effect size of 0.58 for novice nurses.…”