Faculty Clinical Support Model for Nursing Internship Students: Self-Efficacy and Coping

Overview

This study evaluated changes in self-efficacy and coping abilities among nursing internship students following implementation of a Faculty Clinical Support Model (FCSM) at Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia. The FCSM is a structured faculty mentorship program in which each nursing intern is assigned a designated faculty mentor, with scheduled meetings at the start, midpoint, and end of each clinical rotation, and reflective debriefing sessions focused on stress, coping, and clinical decision-making. A single-group pre-post design was used. Self-efficacy and coping were measured at baseline (T0, July 2025) and at six months (T1, January 2026) using the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) and the Placement Coping Scale (PCS). A five-item evaluation form assessed participants' perceived impact of the model. This study was registered retrospectively; prospective registration was not completed because the FCSM was implemented as a routine institutional support initiative and was not recognized at the time as meeting the ICMJE clinical trial definition.

The Faculty Clinical Support Model (FCSM) consisted of three components: (1) designated faculty mentors assigned to each nursing internship student for the duration of the internship year; (2) scheduled faculty-mentor-student meetings at three defined points per clinical rotation (start, midpoint, and end); and (3) planned reflective debriefing sessions focused on stress, coping strategies, and clinical decision-making. All participating faculty received a brief standardized orientation on strategies to support students' self-efficacy through graded mastery experiences and constructive feedback, and to promote adaptive coping prior to the intervention period. Self-efficacy was measured using the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE; 10 items, 1-10 scale), originally developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) and adapted for the internship context. Coping was assessed using the Placement Coping Scale (PCS; 9 items, 1-10 scale). A five-item FCSM evaluation form (1-5 scale) assessed participants' perceived impact of the model on preparedness, confidence, coping, accessibility of support, and likelihood of recommending the model to future cohorts. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests as primary analyses due to non-normal distributions, supplemented by paired t-tests, Cohen's d effect sizes, and Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency. Given the single-group design without a control condition, findings are interpreted as preliminary, hypothesis-generating evidence of association rather than confirmed causal effectiveness. Ethics approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee, College of Nursing, Taibah University (TUCN-REC-2025-123, approved 18 May 2025).