Faculty strategies for supporting nursing students' mental health during clinical training: A qualitative descriptive study.
Abstract
Background
Some nursing students experience substantial psychological distress during clinical training. Faculty members are uniquely positioned as supervisors, evaluators and daily contacts during clinical placements to recognize distress and facilitate timely support, yet their strategies and the contextual factors that facilitate or hinder mental health support remain insufficiently explored, particularly in non-Western educational contexts. STUDY
Aim
To explore faculty strategies for supporting nursing students' mental health during clinical training and to identify facilitating factors and barriers to implementation.
Methods
A qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 16 clinical nursing faculty members recruited through purposive and snowball sampling from two colleges of nursing affiliated with a major university in a major city in Riyadh. Semi-structured, individual interviews lasting 45-75 min were audio-recorded and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's codebook thematic analysis. The study adhered to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) guidelines; sample size was guided by information power rather than data saturation.
Results
Three themes emerged: (1) Multifaceted Support Strategies, encompassing empathetic communication, mentorship, stress-management facilitation and early intervention; (2) Institutional and Contextual Barriers, including limited administrative support, inadequate faculty training, high student-to-faculty ratios and fragmented mental health services; and (3) Enabling Factors and Recommendations, comprising supportive organizational culture, targeted training, institutional policy frameworks and interdisciplinary collaboration. Participants ranged from 2 to 22 years of teaching experience across five clinical specialties; 62.5% (10 of 16) reported no prior formal mental health training and 75% supervised 8-10 students per clinical shift.
Conclusions
Faculty employ multi-component, relationship-centered strategies to support student mental health but operate within significant institutional constraints. Creating psychologically safe clinical learning environments requires systemic change, including integrated formal training for faculty, explicit policies and interdisciplinary services, rather than reliance on individual faculty effort.