Clinical nursing preceptor is an important key of professional development in new nurses. Clinical nursing preceptor can provide effective teaching for new nurses to reduce Reality shock, decrease early burnout, and enhance retention rate. Few studies have examined the factors relationships between personality traits and teaching self-efficacy in Clinical nursing preceptors.
The objective of this study were to examine the statuses and relationships of personality traits and the teaching self-efficacy in clinical nursing preceptors.
Methods:
The study methods applied a cross-sectional design using structured questionnaires, including (a) demographic characteristics, (b) personality traits questionnaire, and (c) the teaching self-efficacy evaluation. A total of 200 participants were recruited from two hospitals in south Taiwan through a convenient sampling procedure. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlations.
Results:
The results of the study showed that clinical nursing preceptors had an average score of 3.86 in the teaching self-efficacy. In terms of the five dimensions of the teaching self-efficacy, the score from the highest to lowest was harmonious interpersonal relationship, objectivity of teaching evaluation, maturity of personal characteristics, proficiency of professional knowledge and effective teaching strategies. Personal characteristics including age, marital status, years of teaching experience, job titles, and the job ranking had significant relationships with the teaching self-efficacy. In consider with personality traits, except to the “Openness”, the teaching self-efficacy had significant positive relationships with the “Conscientiousness”, “Extraversion”, and “Agreeableness” (r = .632, r = .316, r = .374); and the significant negative relationships with the “Neuroticism” (r = -.339).
Conclusion:
The subjects of the study targeted at the clinical nursing preceptors to understand the personality traits and the current situation of the teaching self-efficacy of the clinical nursing preceptors. The aspects of the clinical preceptors’ teaching self-efficacy in a descending order based on the mean scores include harmonious interpersonal relationship, objective teaching assessment, mature personal quality, professional competence and effective teaching. The overall teaching self-efficacy was significantly correlated with age, marital status, teaching seniority, rank of position and job title in the individual attributes. In terms of the correlation with the personality traits, the overall teaching self-efficacy had significant positive correlation with conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness except for the openness, and had significant negative correlation with the neuroticism in the personality traits.