Factors associated with nursing students' self-regulated learning in clinical practicum: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Abstract

Self-regulated learning is essential to nursing students' professional development, especially in the management of their learning and adaptation to complex clinical learning environments. This study aimed to explore the self-regulated learning status and associated factors of nursing students in clinical practicum. The study was conducted with 764 second-, third-, and fourth-year nursing students from 135 nursing undergraduate programs in Turkey. Data were collected using a questionnaire that consisted of sociodemographic characteristics, factors affecting learning, and the "Self-Regulated Learning Scale in Clinical Nursing Practice. " Descriptive methods, univariate linear regression, and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that being female, having a higher academic grade point average, having willingly chosen the nursing profession, feeling comfortable in clinical practicum, having the ability to transfer theoretical knowledge into practice, and making sufficient effort to learn in clinical practicum were factors associated with nursing students' self-regulated learning; these factors explained 45.1% of the variance. The study suggests that positive learning clinical environments can support students in the use of self-regulated learning approaches.