Holistic nursing competence and clinical learning experience among professionally active nursing students: a cross-sectional study
Abstract
The rapid development of healthcare requires nursing practitioners to continually enhance their skills and adopt a holistic approach. Education is a key component of this process, and is linked with active professional work. The effectiveness of this education, however, is determined by the psychosocial factors of the clinical practice setting. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between the level of holistic nursing competencies and the perceived quality of clinical practice among nursing students combining education with professional work. The cross-sectional study was carried out among a group of 293 practising nurses (mean age 42.9 years, mean length of service 16.5 years) enrolled in a master's degree program. The following two tools were utilised: Holistic Nursing Competence Scale (HNCS) and Ascent to Competence Scale (ACS). The participants showed a high level of holistic competencies (Me = 5.67), with the “Ethically-oriented practice” and the “Professional development” subscales receiving the highest scores (Me = 6.0). In terms of clinical setting, the “Learning and Competence” subscale obtained the highest score (Me = 4.0), while the “Belongingness” subscale was given the lowest score (Me = 3.71). The sociodemographic variables had no significant impact on the variables under study ( p > 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed positive and statistically significant relationships between all HNCS and ACS subscales. The total HNC score showed the highest correlation with the ACS “Learning and Competence” subscale ( ρ = 0.506; p < 0.001). The study demonstrated a positive and statistically significant association between the quality of the clinical practice environment and the level of holistic nursing competence. Among the examined factors, learning opportunities within the clinical setting emerged as the factor most strongly associated with holistic competence.