Socialising of nursing students into homecare practice in Denmark: a Berger and Luckmann-inspired interview study

Abstract

In 2016, Denmark's nurse education eliminated diagnoses, age and care settings from the curriculum. How students are trained for homecare is unknown. This article illuminates how students of non-Danish origin were socialised into homecare practice during nurse education in Denmark. Semi-structured interviews with eight students and a theoretical inspired latent thematic analysis of data were conducted. The SRQR checklist was used. The results are presented under three themes: Unprepared students stepped out from university college, Clinical supervisors as instructive and questioned role models, and Patients and relatives acted as co-supervisors. Theoretical highlights on homecare nursing were scarce from students’ perspectives. Clinical supervisors and encounters with patients and relatives in their homes socialised students into professional roles within homecare. The organisation of education in homecare pointed to a clinical, professional socialisation of nursing students in patients’ homes rather than a theoretical socialisation with an inherent formation at university college.