Using clinical caring journaling: nursing student and instructor experiences.

Background: Journaling has been incorporated into many nursing courses as an active reflective teaching strategy that can facilitate the learning process, personal growth, and professional development of students. There is limited research support of journaling as an appropriate tool to promote reflection for the purpose of learning caring in nursing education.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of student nurses and instructors who use clinical caring journaling (CCJ) in their clinical practicum.

Methods: Researchers used a descriptive qualitative research design. The study population was 880 senior student nurses and 90 clinical instructors from a nursing program at a university in Taiwan who used CCJ. After completion of 1 year of clinical practicum, 16 students and 7 instructors participated voluntarily in focus group interviews. Researchers used content analysis to sort interview data into themes.

Results: Six themes were categorized that encapsulated student and instructor experiences and perceptions regarding using CCJ in their clinical practicum. These themes were guiding caring behavior toward patients, enabling students' reflective caring abilities, building up students' self-confidence, increasing interaction between students and instructors, enhancing students' self-development, and overcoming writing difficulty.

Conclusions/implications For Practice: Research findings may serve as a reference for nursing educators to use CCJ strategy in student nurses' clinical practicum.