Clinical teachers as caring mothers from the perspectives of Jordanian nursing students

The purpose of this transcultural qualitative study was to discover, describe and explain the meaning of a caring student–teacher encounter within the context of clinical education. Clinical teachers are registered nurses who have completed a university undergraduate nursing degree program and at least 1 year of post-registration clinical experience. They are employed as full-time staff of the faculty of nursing. Among the 19 Jordanian undergraduate nursing students interviewed, “clinical nurse teachers as caring mothers,” emerged as an important theme. This paper describes the clinical teachers in their mothering roles, such as supporting, negotiating, reinforcing, transforming and releasing nursing students throughout their clinical practice. Understanding students’ cultural beliefs and values provides possible predictors that could facilitate positive student–teacher relationships that could be used to plan the clinical education for nursing students. There is also a need to develop workshops in clinical teaching that would incorporate cultural awareness, especially in a multicultural student–teacher groups.