Mental health pre-registration nursing students' experiences of group clinical supervision: a longitudinal qualitative study

There is widespread international interest in the use of clinical supervision in nursing as well as
recognition of the need to introduce nursing students to its concepts and value. This article reports on a
three-year longitudinal qualitative focus group study which explored students’ views and experiences of
a group clinical supervision initiative. Students attended supervision groups facilitated by teaching staff
over their three year pre-registration mental health nursing course, with a main aim of developing skills,
knowledge and attitudes as supervisees. The findings showed that students derived benefit from the
experience, gained greater awareness of the nature of supervision and became active supervisees within
their groups. These benefits took time to emerge and were not universal however. While the findings
support the value of exposing students to the experience of group clinical supervision educators wishing
to implement such a programme need to address a host of issues. These include; the preparation of
students, structural and resource concerns, and issues relating to group dynamics