Experiences of Nurse Educators in Research Supervision of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Undergraduate research is an essential experience for student nurses that can enhance the nurse graduate attitude towards evidence-based practice. Research is important and has a positive contribution on career development within the healthcare sector. Nurse educators play a crucial role in undergraduate research by providing research supervision to the undergraduate nursing students. The study's primary purpose was to determine the nurse educators' experiences in research supervision of undergraduate students. The study used a qualitative, phenomenological exploratory-descriptive research design. The non-probability purposive sampling was adopted to select participants from the nursing institutions in the two provinces, four in Province 1 and two in Province 2. The focus group discussions were conducted using a focus group discussion guide to collect data from 27 participants who were part of the four focus groups. The themes that emerged from the findings included roles and engagement in research, orientation on research supervision, mentorship concerning research supervision, and facilitation skills of nurse educators. Therefore, the author recommended that the institutions should ensure guidance to the research supervisors by providing mentorship. The programme on research supervision should be designed to inform the research supervisors about the correct way of supervising undergraduates.