Abstract
Background: Interventions for nursing student clinical stress focus on stress-reducing activities and self-care techniques students can implement to decrease stress. Current literature identifies the clinical instructor as a major source of student clinical stress. It is essential to explore how educators can modify their behavior and interactions with students to help manage nursing student clinical stressors. Objective: The purpose of this study was to better understand how clinical nursing faculty manage undergraduate baccalaureate nursing student stress in the clinical environment. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was conducted. A purposive sample of 14 clinical nursing faculty with at least four semesters of clinical nursing faculty experience from seven different accredited, generic baccalaureate nursing programs in the Northeast region of the United States participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Results: The theme “promoting an optimal clinical learning environment” and sub-themes “being self-aware” and “supporting the student” emerged from data analysis. Conclusion: Study findings may aid in providing educators an understanding of the extent to which their behaviors and interactions with students can contribute to nursing student clinical stress, thus maximizing student clinical learning.