Understanding Clinical Learning Quality Aspects in Mental Health Nursing Practice Course among Students: A Comprehensive Examination

Abstract

There is a growing demand for comprehensive evaluations of the clinical learning quality of nursing education and the necessity to establish robust predictors and mediators for enhancing its outcomes within the context of mental health practice. This study is threefold: 1. Evaluating nursing students’ clinical learning quality before and after mental health nursing practice; 2. Establish if the grade of a theoretical course in mental health nursing and the student’s perception of their theoretical knowledge level predicts the grade of mental health nursing practice; 3. Explore how model learning opportunities, self-directed learning, safety, and nursing care quality mediate learning environment quality and tutorial strategies quality following mental health nursing practice. Using a before and after the study, 107 undergraduate nursing students at an Israeli university completed a questionnaire and the Clinical Learning Quality Evaluation Index tool to assess their perceptions of clinical learning quality before and after mental health nursing practice. The results showed a decline in students’ perceptions of tutorial strategy quality following mental health practical learning in clinical settings, with the theoretical course grade predicting the practical experience grade and underscoring the mediating role of learning opportunities between the learning environment and tutorial strategies. The study’s findings emphasize the importance of an adaptive learning environment and a solid theoretical foundation in fostering effective tutorial strategies and enhancing the overall learning outcomes for nursing students in mental health education.