Resources of learning through hidden curriculum: Iranian nursing students' perspective

Students tend to internalize and perpetuate the patterns of behavior and the values surrounding them. Review of literature showed that there are several student learning sources through the hidden curriculum, but they have not been identified in nursing yet. Hence, the purpose of this study is explanation of learning resources in the hidden curriculum in the view of baccalaureate nursing students.

This qualitative study was carried out in 2012 with the participation of 32 baccalaureate nursing students in Nursing and Midwifery College of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran by purposeful sampling strategies. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews and continued to the level of data saturation and themes' emergence. Data analysis was performed through inductive content analysis method.

"Instructor as the unique learning element," "various learning resources in the clinical setting," and "instructive nature of the education environment" were extracted as the main themes, each of which incorporated some categories.

Baccalaureate undergraduate nursing students learnt the hidden curriculum by the resources such as instructors, resources existing in the clinical setting, and the university campus. Therefore, more research is recommended for the identification of other resources. In order to promote positive messages and reduce the negative messages of the hidden curricula running at academic and clinical settings, nursing educators and nurses need to learn more about this issue in the nursing profession.