(41) In the Heat of Simulation - Facilitators’ Strategies to Establish Psychological Safety and Accommodate Nursing Students’ Emotions in Simulation-Based Education

Abstract:

Background: Facilitator plays an essential role in simulation-based education to evoke nursing students’ engagement, facilitate reflections and manage to create a psychologically safe learning environment. Active learning situations such as simulation-based education are found to trigger a wide range of emotions among students, and emotions have an essential role during learning. Although, little is known about how facilitators accommodate student affect. Hence, this study aimed to explore facilitators’ strategies for addressing students’ emotions in simulation-based education.

Methods: This study had an interpretive description approach, and nine facilitators were individually interviewed.
Findings: Findings showed that facilitators were attentive to students’ emotional responses during simulation-based education and adapted to students’ individual perceived needs. Interest, surprise, and anxiety are cultivated. However, psychological safety was seen as a prerequisite for optimal learning. Facilitators were found to balance emotional arousal and psychological safety by regulating levels of difficulties during the simulation sequence.

Conclusion: This study highlights the complexity of facilitators’ role during simulation-based education, and findings have implications for facilitator training which should include awareness about emotions role in students learning during simulation-based education.