The development of a clinical learning environment scale

Abstract

Within nursing, there is a strong demand for high-quality, cost-effective clinical education experiences that facilitate student learning in the clinical setting. The clinical learning environment (CLE) is the interactive network of forces within the clinical setting that influence the students' clinical learning outcomes. The identification of factors that characterize CLE could lead to strategies that foster the factors most predictive of desirable student learning outcomes and ameliorate those which may have a negative impact on student outcomes. The CLE scale is a 23-item instrument with five subscales: staff-student relationships, nurse manager commitment, patient relationships, interpersonal relationships, and student satisfaction. These factors have strong substantive face validity and construct validity, as determined by confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability coefficients range from high (0.85) to marginal (0.63). The CLE scale provides the educator with a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate affectively relevant factors in the CLE, direct resources to areas where improvement may be required, and nurture those areas functioning well. It will assist in the application of resources in a cost-effective, efficient, productive manner, and will ensure that the clinical learning experience offers the nursing student the best possible learning outcomes.

Undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of their clinical learning environment

“…The Clinical Learning Environment Scale (CLES) (Dunn & Burnett, 1995) was used to collect quantitative data on the student perceptions of their clinical learning environments. The CLES and demographic data were collected at the conclusion of the students' clinical experience.…”

“…It had been previously tested with a sample of 423 undergraduate nursing students and was shown to have strong substantive face validity, and construct validity as determined by confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability coefficients for the subscales ranged from high (r = 0.85) to marginal (r = 0.70) (Dunn & Burnett, 1995). Demographic data collected included year of the nursing programme in which the student was enrolled, age, gender, employment patterns, and previous nursing experience.…”

“…It is in the arena of clinical education that the undergraduate nursing student has the opportunity to develop those crucial application skills. The clinical learning environment has been defined as 'an interactive network of forces within the clinical setting which influence the students' clinical learning outcomes' (Dunn & Burnett, 1995). The clinical learning environment may influence the development of student attitudes, psychomotor skills, knowledge and clinical problem solving abilities (Bloom, 1964;Dunn, 1992;Grahn, 1987;Keeves, 1972;McRobbie & Fraser, 1993).…”

Multilevel perspectives in clinical learning environments' assessment: An insight on levels involved in planning nursing education

“…A clinical learning environment is defined as "an interactive network of forces within the clinical setting that influence the students' learning outcomes" [4] . So, identifying the forces involved in clinical settings and developing quality indicators of such forces is crucial to improve clinical learning and nursing students' professional growth [5] .…”

Investigation of Nursing Students’ Perception of Stress and Coping Behaviours of Stress Regarding Education

“…(4)(5)(6) Klinik deneyimde, hemşirelik eğitiminin bü-tünleyici bir parçasını oluşturmaktadır. (7,8) Klinik uygulama, sorun çözme sırasında klinik düşünme becerilerini kullanmaları için öğrencileri uyarır (8) ve hemşirelik öğrencilerinin, uygulama sırasındaki klinik ilkeleri yapabilmesini ve anlayabilmesini, (6) rol modellerini gözlemleyebilmesini, hastaya özgü bakım verebilmesini, karar verme yeteneklerini kullanabilmesini ve ekibin bir parçası olarak görev alabilmesini sağlar. (9,10) Ancak klinik uygulama sahaları, öğrencilerin profesyonel bilgi ve beceri gelişimleri için vazgeçilmez bir parça olmasına rağmen, aynı zamanda öğrenciler için önemli bir kaygı ve stres kaynağı-dır.…”