Nursing students experienced academic emotions during education - a longitudinal descriptive study from a nursing bachelor's program in Sweden

• Published in: BMC nursing Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 52
• Main Authors: Lundell Rudberg, Susanne, Sormunen, Taina, Scheja, Max, Lachmann, Hanna, Westerbotn, Margareta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 18.01.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Academic emotions; Anxiety; Apathy; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Clinical medicine; Colleges & universities; Contextual activity sampling system; Data collection; Educational aspects; Emotions; Higher education; Influence; Learning activities; Longitudinal study; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Nurses; nursing; Nursing education; Nursing students; Ongoing learning activities; Positive emotions; Questionnaires; Research methodology; Students; Students, nursing; Writing; Sweden; Academic emotions; Contextual activity sampling system; Students, nursing; Ongoing learning activities; Longitudinal study
• ISSN: 1472-6955; 1472-6955
• DOI: 10.1186/s12912-024-01729-y

To explore nursing students' academic emotions during ongoing learning activities focusing on perceived challenge and competence. Emotions plays an important part in learning. Positive emotions can be beneficial while negative emotions can be detrimental to educational outcomes. Optimal experiences are situations when learners simultaneously experience sufficient challenge and competence. Since various learning activities are performed in different learning environments during the nursing program, it is of interest to investigate students' ongoing emotions in the occurring contexts. A longitudinal descriptive study. By using the Contextual Activity Sampling System, data was collected every third week on a three-year nursing program. From August 2015 to January 2020, a total of 2, 947 questionnaires were answered by 158 students. Experiences of positive and negative academic emotions were calculated for the entire program. Optimal experience was calculated for courses where high discrepancy between positive and negative experiences were identified. Students self-reported academic emotions varied over time and in relation to learning activities. High ratings of negative emotions were reported during clinical practice in all semesters except the final. Students' positive academic emotions and optimal experience in clinical practice increased after having deepened their academic knowledge. Nursing students had an increased positive experience when they themselves practice a learning activity and it appeared that they benefit from academic preparation prior to entering internship. Nursing students need an academic competence to develop their skills during training in the clinical reality. Increased collaboration between academia and clinic would be beneficial for students' clinical development.