How to Guide the Novice: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Psychiatric Nurse Preceptors´ Supervising Behaviors and Strategies for Integrating Theory and Practice in Clinical Nursing Education

Abstract

Purpose: To increase knowledge about supervision as a situated form of teaching in higher education by investigating psychiatric nurse preceptors' self-reported supervisory behaviors and strategies for integrating theory and practice in clinical nursing education. Theory: The frameworks of Situated Learning and From Novice to Expert enabled a view of supervision as both a socially situated practice shaped by participation in the clinical environment and an individual, experience-based development, influenced by how preceptors report guiding and supporting students in connecting theory and practice as they become professional nurses. Method: The study used a mixed-methods approach. A total of 110 nurses working in psychiatric care and experienced in supervising nursing students completed a survey with both closed- and open-ended questions. Statistical and thematic analyses were performed separately and then combined and interpreted within the theoretical framework. Results: The findings of this study showed that psychiatric nurse preceptors consistently reported supervisory behaviors that support students’ valid participation in practice, especially modeling and creating a safe learning environment, which aligns with the early stages of the novice–expert journey. However, their descriptions of supervision highlighted reflective dialogue and scaffolding as key strategies to help students connect theory and practice. Group differences indicate that clinical experience and pedagogical training confer distinct forms of supervisory confidence, with pedagogical competence enabling strategies that may rely less on clinical expertise. Overall, supervision appears to be a context-dependent practice shaped by both clinical knowledge and pedagogical insight, but these dimensions of the preceptor role do not necessarily evolve in parallel. Therefore, creating conditions that enable preceptors to assume the pedagogical role seems central to realizing the full potential of supervision as a situated learning practice.