Nursing Students' Clinical Training Experiences that Motivated Them to Study

Purpose : If a nursing student becomes interested in their clinical training, and it motivates them to study more, their future self-image and effort to search for a job may be promoted. In this study, we clarified nursing students’ experiences that had promoted their motivation to study during acute-phase adult training, in order to improve such training.

Methods : The study subjects comprised third-year college nursing students. On the last day of each subject’s training, they were asked to freely write down their experiences that had promoted their motivation to study in college. The subjects’ accounts were classified according to meaningful sentences, which were subjected to qualitative and inductive analyses as well as categorization. This anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted with the approval of the ethical review board of an institution that the researchers belonged to.

Results : A total of 93 subjects participated in our study, with a mean age of 21.0 (±0.87) years. The subjects’ accounts regarding their experiences that had motivated them to study were classified into 167 codes and 10 subcategories, from which the following 5 categories were extracted: 1) pleasure of deepening knowledge, 2) increased motivation after being praised, 3) satisfaction with thorough instructions, 4) nursing practice in which one’s efforts can pay off, and 5) desire to become a nurse. Some subjects were praised by their patients, teachers, or instructors during their training, and such an experience promoted their motivation to study.

 Discussion : Our findings suggest that trainees’ motivation to study may be nurtured through their relationship with other people and their own positive feelings, and that their self-esteem may increase through receiving one-to-one instructions or praise.