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

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).

Inclusion criteria

• Enrolled as a nursing internship student at Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia
• Participating in clinical placement or internship rotations during the study period (July 2025 to January 2026)
• Willing to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Prior professional nursing experience before the internship year