Volume 51, March–April 2024, Pages 109-114Author links open overlay panel, , Highlights•

The development of a nursing identity through clinical placements is improved by increasing belongingness.

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Campus climate plays a significant role in creating the environment necessary for belongingness to flourish.

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Faculty supervising nursing students must create inclusive climates for their students to increase the positive educational outcomes.

Abstract

Clinical placements are considered one of the “hallmarks” of nursing education. In these settings, students can build upon their theoretical learning by applying knowledge, practicing skills, connecting with nurses and other medical professionals, and creating opportunities to work with diverse populations. As a result, students begin to hone their nurse identity, and build confidence and self-esteem. Importantly, the development of a nursing identity through clinical placement work is improved by integrating opportunities that increase belongingness. Campus climate plays a significant role in creating the environment necessary for belongingness to flourish and leads to enhanced student learning. Taking the role of positive campus climate into consideration, this article argues that instructors supervising undergraduate nursing students in clinical learning environments must create inclusive climates for their students to increase positive educational outcomes. Specific recommendations for creating inclusive clinical learning environments are provided.

Section snippetsNurse identity development

Important to sense of belonging is that belongingness is a key to building a self-concept. Self-concept (also known as self-actualization, self-identity, or self-authorship) is an idea that draws from human development literature and encompasses how one makes sense of the world and their relationship to it. These cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal developmental processes help students to think more complexly about ill-fitted problems (i.e., problems that do not have easy solutions),

Nurse learning

In a meta-literature review of nursing students in rural clinical learning environments, students reported feeling isolated from their faculty and lacked engagement with specialists. They desired more engagement to make sense of demanding situations in their clinical settings and as a result felt learning was impacted negatively (Killam and Carter, 2010). Broadly, due to decreases in the number of faculty, preceptors, clinical sites, and nursing staff, the reduced interactions with nurse

Advancing a sense of belonging

Nurse leaders, including nursing faculty, preceptors, clinical site supervisors, and others are entrusted with the education of developing professional nurses and play a role in ensuring students feeling a sense of belonging. Creating a culture of belonging requires the creation of psychologically safe spaces where students can thrive and enter the space as their full selves. Northouse (2021) wrote,

creating psychologically safe environments, or cultures with a shared belief that members are

Conclusion

Clinical placements play a significant role in the nursing students' education. The role of sense of belonging in nursing student learning in the clinical learning environment is clear. Students who report a higher sense of belonging report greater learning, meet positive college outcomes like persistence and graduation, and, importantly, create a stronger sense of nursing identity and self-actualization (Cabrera, Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella, & Hagedorn, 1999; Denson & Chang, 2015; Garces &

CRediT Author Statement

Dian Squire: Conceptualization, Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing Laura Gonzalez: Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing Colleen Shayan: Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing.

Funding Acknowledgement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Dian Squire: Conceptualization, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Laura Gonzalez: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization. Colleen Shayan: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

Authors have no competing interests or disclosures.

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