Challenges in postgraduate research supervision in nursing education: Integrative review

The aim of this study was to investigate challenges associated with postgraduate research supervision in nursing education and possible implications for improvement efforts.

Postgraduate research-based programs in nursing education are particularly new compared to other professions. Anecdotal notes from nursing education stakeholders indicate that postgraduate research supervision encounters numerous challenges, with negative consequences for the nursing profession and for society.

Integrative review that combines empirical and theoretical evidence was used to obtain a comprehensive picture of challenges in the supervision of postgraduate research.

EBSCOhost; Science Direct; Google Scholar.

The quality of included studies was appraised using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool for quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method studies. Two reviewers extracted data and did quality appraisal.

Inductive content analysis was used to analyse extracted data from included studies.

Seven studies were included. Three main categories of challenges associated with (a) institutional context, (b) research supervisors, and (c) postgraduate students.

Institutional context challenges were lack of clear guidelines for nursing schools, limited pool of appropriate research supervisors, and recruitment of many postgraduate students leading to mismatch, confusion and limited support. Research supervisors are insufficiently prepared, predominantly use traditional face-to-face method, and provide inconsistent feedback. Postgraduate students are inadequately prepared and are mostly full-time employed.

Many challenges continue to beset postgraduate research supervision in nursing discipline, with negative consequences for the quality of graduates and the quality of their research output.

To generate useful knowledge and increase the number of motivated nursing scholars, challenges associated with postgraduate research supervision need to be addressed, with emphasis on formal training for research supervisors and development of clear guidelines for postgraduate research supervision and for recruitment of postgraduate students.