Influences on self-evaluation during a clinical skills programme for nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Professional Development
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Shift towards student-centred learning and lifelong education.
• Self-evaluation as a tool for continuous professional development.
• Limited understanding of student self-assessment processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore influences on self-evaluation use in senior nursing students.
• To investigate how students perform self-assessment during a clinical skills course.

Main Methods:

• Grounded theory methodology with constructionist and postmodernist influences.
• Data collection via semi-structured interviews, observation, and numerical self-evaluation ratings.
• Iterative thematic analysis of data from 14 students and 1 supervisor.

Main Results:

• Feeling confident and stating confidence are distinct; confidence is influenced by clinical skills perception and credibility.
• Stating confidence is socially negotiated, affected by modesty and progress demonstration.
• Self-evaluation can be influenced by discourses of empowerment and surveillance.

Conclusions:

• Self-evaluation in nursing education is socially constructed and complex.
• Learners can be both empowered and controlled through self-evaluation processes.
• Further research into the social construction of self-evaluations is recommended for educational practice.