Exploration des facteurs influençant la mobilisation des savoirs par une pensée critique chez des étudiantes infirmières bachelières lors de stages cliniques

Abstract

To make an active contribution to human health, nurses must draw on a wide range of knowledge and skills. In view of the ever-growing complexity of care, the education of future nurses will face major issues and challenges. This study set out to characterize the knowledge mobilization process through critical thinking by undergraduate nursing students during care situations, and to better understand and support its development. A grounded theory-based qualitative approach identified certain factors that influence this process, through elucidation interviews with 16 Quebec university students. A socio-demographic questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and field notes were used to collect the data, from which two broad categories of influencing factors emerged: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic factors include the students' knowledge, caregiving experience, values, view of the nurse's role, and personality traits. However, most influencing factors seem to be extrinsic and beyond the students' control. This category includes the personal characteristics of various people with whom the students work during clinical practicum, as well as their behaviour toward the students (in particular the openness, trust, acceptance and collaboration shown to them). Factors emerged relating to the care situations themselves (i.e. assigned workload, stability of condition of the people under care, range and complexity of caregiving scenarios, etc.). In relation to the academic context, the supervisor/student ratio is another factor. Lastly, power issues also emerged, especially regarding the status of students, the expert status ascribed to supervisors and the care team, and the evaluation context. The study findings have opened up new avenues for developing education strategies to foster critical thinking among nursing students and put it to use in mobilizing their knowledge and skills. Support measures for supervisors who play a key role with students during their practicum also merit further research.