Abstract

DIOGO, Paula et al. Supervision of nursing students in clinical education: Correlation between the support function and the development of emotional skills. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2016, n.spe4, pp.115-122. ISSN 1647-2160.  https://doi.org/10.19131/rpesm.0150.

Nursing students deal with emotionally intense experiences in care interactions. Those experiences require a double-centred emotional labour (managing clients’ emotions and their own internal emotional world). This constitutes the research problem that leads to a study aiming at analysing the support role of the clinical instructors and its correlation with the development of nursing students’ emotional skills in clinical practice, required to effectively engaging in emotional labour. It is an exploratory study, with a mixed method research design, involving descriptive and correlational analysis. The sample is intentional, comprising 168 final-year students and 25 clinical instructors who attended a clinical supervision programme at a Portuguese nursing school. Data collection instruments were a questionnaire applied to the students and reflexive journals of clinical instructors. Quantitative data were submitted to descriptive, non-parametric statistical analysis whereas qualitative data were submitted to conventional content analysis; quantitative and qualitative data were crossed. Findings reveal that students' educational needs and expectations related to clinical supervision are consonant with support and emotional management strategies provided by clinical instructors. The support role of clinical instructors contributes to the development of nursing students' skills for engaging in effective emotional labour; thereby, the research hypothesis is confirmed.

Keywords : Supervision; Nursing students; Emotional intelligence; Clinical competence.

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