The Effect of a Clinical Practicum on Undergraduate Nursing Students' Self-Efficacy for Community-Based Family Nursing Practice

Abstract

Providing family nursing care using a collaborative practice model presents a challenge to undergraduate students and to faculty who structure their learning experiences. A pre-test-post-test design was used to assess the impact of a 13-week family nursing clinical practicum on the perceived self-efficacy of two groups of nursing students in three areas: knowledge related to family nursing, home visiting, and collaborative practice. Students completed the Family Nursing Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (FNSE) at the beginning of the academic year and 4 and 8 months later to coincide with the timing of the practicum for each group (fall or winter term). A two-factor repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant group X time effect (λ=.80, p<.001). Students' self-efficacy differed significantly by group at time 2 only (t=4.3,p<.001), supporting the positive effects of the clinical practicum on students' self-efficacy. Consistent with Bandura's (1977, 1986) theory, students rated actual performance of family nursing skills in a clinical setting as the most important source of efficacy information. Implications for designing meaningful clinical experiences in family nursing are discussed.

First-year school counsellor in training professional experience in NSW: A qualitative study

“…Reflections centred on the professional psychological learning experience during the professional experience, as well as system-and process-related knowledge. Professional experience can provide practitioners with professional knowledge (Ford-Gilboe et al, 1997) and help practitioners acquire realistic perceptions of the role (Min, 2012). These reflections show that this aim has been met by the professional experience embarked on by the participants.…”

“…Generally, they involve shadowing and participating with an experienced professional and engaging in some of their day-to-day activities. Professional experiences have been reported to increase self-efficacy of knowledge-based practice (Ford-Gilboe, Laschinger, Laforet-Fliesser, Ward-Griffin, & Foran, 1997), and openness to experience and realistic perceptions of the role (Min, 2012). Reflecting on professional experience from the perspective of the 'employee' and the workplace have been identified as an important aspect of the learning success of professional experience (Smith, Clegg, Lawrence, & Todd, 2007).…”

“…Several books have been published to support graduate counsellors on their first professional experience or internship (Hodges, 2016;Matthews & Walker, 2015;Russell-Chapin, Sherman, & Ivey, 2016), as well as two books for preservice counsellors (Diambra & Studer, 2011;Joyce-Beaulieu & Rossen, 2016). These American books explore the clinical experience of the professional experience, outline the school culture, provide guidance on turning theory into practice, provide guidance on becoming an effective supervisee, outline the therapist-client relationship, and summarise national frameworks guiding the profession.…”