A model for trust in the nursing education environment

Abstract

Trust is an important concept in nursing. Nursing is frequently described as a profession which is built on trusting relationships; hence, to produce competent professional nurses the building of trust and trusting relationships in nursing education is of utmost importance. The purpose of the study was to understand trust and trusting relationships between and among educators and students in the teaching and learning environment. A qualitative approach with a grounded theory design was used to discover the value of trust and trusting relationships and to develop a model for trust in the nursing education environment. All the nursing education institutions offering the R425 nursing programme in the selected province were included. Two nursing education institutions offered the R425 nursing programme in this province, a university and one public multi-campus nursing education institution with three campuses. The target population consisted of educators and students complying with the sampling criteria. Sampling of educators and students was purposive and convenient. The sample size consisted of fourteen students was purposive and convenient. The sample size consisted of fourteen educators and sixty students. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with educators and fourteen focus group interviews were conducted with students. The three stages of Charmaz (2014) were used for the analysis of data, namely initial, focused and theoretical coding until data saturation was evident. Data collection and analysis and the literature review were done concurrently. Three role players were identified to be important in trust in nursing education. The role players are the educator, student and professional nurse. In the study two sets of data, namely the educators’ views and students’ views on trust in nursing education were synthesised. Four themes emerged, namely: namely professional relations, expectations of the role players in nursing education, creating a conducive teaching and learning environment and, finally, outcomes of trust or lack of trust. Ensuing from the findings of the current study, a model for trust in nursing education was developed – an important contribution to the body of knowledge of nursing education. The study throws light on self-trust, trusting relationships among role players, and trust in the teaching and learning environment. Awareness of trust and trusting relationships among the role players results in positive learning experiences, increased self-trust, self-confidence, motivation and better performance in nursing education. Recommendations made have a bearing on developing self-trust and trusting relationships among role players, the implementation of the model for trust in nursing education, and future studies in trust in nursing education