Abstract:

Background: Traditionally, questionnaires are used to evaluate the student experience in healthcare programmes. The aim of this study was to utilise a novel evaluation method collecting visual (pictorial) data to explore the expectations and experiences of first year undergraduate nursing and radiotherapy students.

Methods: Participating radiotherapy and nursing students at the University of Liverpool completed the prospective data collection tool at the start of year one and retrospectively at the start of year two of their programme. The study used a non-traditional methodology requiring adaptation of thematic content analysis.

Findings:
Each of the four data sets were analysed and the following themes identified:
Nursing year 1: confidence of achieving; a tough journey ahead; pride in being a nurse.
Radiotherapy year 1: expectation of hard work; confidence; the future; the journey
Nursing year 2: poor work/life balance; the reality of becoming a nurse; growth and increased confidence
Radiotherapy year 2: Personal development; workload; positivity and ‘what have I been doing’.

Conclusions: Visual data provided a means of quickly collecting and analysing data. The impact of this visual data was powerful and gave valuable insight into student expectations and experience which may complement traditional methods. Further research is needed.

Keywords:

Evaluation, Pictorial data, Visual data, Student experience.