Abstract:

Background:
Socialization is an essential component to a nursing students' integration into the clinical setting. It provides students with realistic expectations of potentially unfavourable experiences they may encounter in a clinical environment while simultaneously allowing students to develop an identity that works to guide them in the nursing role. Despite its importance, the increasing rates of nurse turnover indicate improper socialization of nursing students. The production of digital narratives and stories allows students to share their socialization experiences, and other students can reflect on the experiences of their peers and be exposed to potentially unfamiliar clinical scenarios.

Methods:
A convenience sample of nursing students in the final practicum placement from the Internationally Educated (IEN, n=7), Collaborative Nursing Baccalaureate (n=7), and Secondary-Entry (n=7) programs from a large urban University in Canada were invited to participate in a workshop to create a digital narrative or story using the Wevideo application. Schlossberg's Transition Theory was used as the conceptual foundation for the workshop and to guide the digital narrative design. The Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning (SETL) was distributed to the nursing participants to evaluate their satisfaction with the workshop. The students' digital narratives storylines were also analyzed for themes related to their socialization experience and transition to practice.

Results:
Themes within each digital narrative and story were analyzed and compared. Some of the themes identified through the student's digital narratives were "making a difference to patient outcomes," "decision making regarding patient care," and "continuous education." The SETL questionnaire was distributed, and scores were also analyzed. Nursing students reported ideal SETL scores, indicating their satisfaction with the workshop and digital narrative or story design experience.

Conclusion:
Digital narratives or stories facilitates the transition of nursing students into clinical settings. The themes identified within their digital narratives indicated positive socialization and professional identity development within the nursing programs and before transitioning into practice.

Keywords:

Digital narrative, digital story, nursing students, socialization.