Faculty's experience providing nursing student support

The nursing workforce shortage continues to grow, contributing to a cycle of burnout and poor job retention. Retaining nursing students is essential to address the shortage of nurses in the workforce. Several factors contribute to nursing student success, including faculty support. Faculty support may include psychological, emotional, academic, or functional support. Students report that faculty do not always provide the support needed to be successful; however, the contributing factors to providing adequate support by faculty are unclear.

Since little is known of the phenomenon of faculty student support, the purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of undergraduate faculty in providing support to nursing students.

An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted to explore faculty experience in providing student support.

Nursing faculty from across the US, with greater than two years of experience teaching in an undergraduate nursing program, were invited to participate in this study.

Semi-structured interview data, from seven experienced nursing faculty, were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.

Four themes-Inconsistent and Unclear Expectations, Students Need More Support, Personal Impact, and Dual Identity-were identified to represent the experiences and meaning of student support from the nursing faculty perspective.

Nursing faculty lack guidance and expectations related to their role in providing support to students, which is confounded by their dual identities as an instructor and a nurse. Faculty in this study recognized that students need more support than they were receiving but lacked the knowledge or resources to provide the support needed. The role expectations on nursing faculty in providing support to students may lead to burnout and psychological stress which could be mitigated through role clarity and support by administration.