Effectiveness and experiences of integrating Mindfulness into Peer-assisted Learning (PAL) in clinical education for nursing students: A mixed method study.

An online mindfulness peer-assisted learning program for nursing students improved self-efficacy and reduced burnout, but did not significantly change depression, anxiety, or stress. The program included mindfulness practice, senior student experience sharing, and peer group learning. Qualitative interviews revealed three themes: nurturing self-care through mindfulness, empowering skills for clinical placement, and maintaining momentum with challenges and enablers. The program may help prepare nursing students for clinical work, and further trials are recommended.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Nursing students can find clinical learning to be challenging, unpredictable and stressful. To address this problem, this study integrated Mindfulness into Peer-assisted Learning (PAL) for nursing clinical education and investigated the feasibility and effectiveness on improving student participants' emotional reactions, and explored the perception and experience towards the programme. This quasi-experimental, repeated-measure, mixed methods study was conducted in a convenience sample of 126 Year 2 and Year 3 university nursing students. The participants engaged in an online mindfulness peer-assisted learning (PAL) programme that consisted of mindfulness practice, senior students sharing their experiences, and peer-assisted group learning. Emotional status (in terms of depression, anxiety and stress), burnout and self-efficacy were measured at baseline, 8 weeks after programme commencement and immediately after programme completion. Linear mixed-effects models and an intention-to-treat analysis were used to investigate changes in the dependent variables over time. Thirty-nine participants were also invited to engage in semi-structured interviews to explore their learning experiences in the programme. The programme significantly improved the participants' self-reported self-efficacy (β = 1.44, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.58 to 2.30, p = 0.001) and decreased their level of burnout (β = -2.31, 95 % CI: -3.24 to -1.38, p 0.05). Three themes emerged from the qualitative data, namely 1) nurturing self-care capacity through mindfulness; (2) empowering essential skills for clinical placement; (3) maintaining momentum alongside various challenges and enablers. The mindfulness PAL programme may facilitate nursing students' clinical preparedness. Further trials are recommended to investigate its applicability and use in clinical nursing education.