Feedback processing and emotion regulation in nursing students during internship

Abstract

Introduction: As feedback that nursing students receive during internships triggers emotional episodes, it results in changes in self-esteem, motivation, and learning behaviors. The adaptive or maladaptive nature of emotions is modulated via emotion regulation strategies. Method: To understand how the students experienced and acted upon these emotional episodes, we applied an existential phenomenological approach. Results: Students experience a wide range of emotions in feedback situations. These emotions regularly require the use of emotion regulation strategies. We have described three kinds of such strategies. Based on the results of this and previous studies, we have developed a comprehensive model of feedback processing by students in the context of nursing internships, in which emotions and their regulation are central. Discussion: Emotion regulation strategies are often unconscious and should be developed by students during their training, especially in consciously designed feedback conditions of teachers and instructors, in which students should feel understood, respected, and invited to actively involve themselves in the processing of feedback. Finally, we make a few recommendations to education professionals. Conclusions: Feedback processing by future nurses during internships involves a complex emotional process that affects their behavior, either conducive to learning or not. Emotion regulation strategies may be required in these situations. Moreover, students' emotions are influenced by various determinants, which evolve in a circular dynamic as feedback occurs over time.