Nursing and midwifery college students' expectations of their educators and perceived stressors during their education: A pilot study in Turkey

Nursing and midwifery education is known to be negatively affected by several factors. Nevertheless, the present learning environments for students can be effectively altered to optimize their learning and practical training and decrease their stress levels. In order to minimize the stressors and to encourage the qualities needed of a competent educator, it would be important to first determine students' perceived stressors and the expectations they have of their educators. The main purpose of the study was to define the expectations that nursing and midwifery college students have of their educators as well as the stressors they perceive during their education. The present descriptive study was carried out with 474 students; there were 345 nursing students and 129 midwifery students at a college in northeastern Turkey. Data were obtained with a questionnaire and assessed with X-2 analyses. The findings of the study demonstrated that a majority of the students had some expectations of the educators and perceived stressors during their education. The students' most common expectations of the educators included their desire to be understood during their clinical education. In addition, students wanted the educators to make more use of visual materials during the theoretical part of their courses. The study also determined that the students felt very stressed when they were questioned by the educator on both clinical and theoretical aspects of their coursework.