Participants indicated that students entered the profession with the internal motivation to become professional nurses. Initial relations were formed between the educator and student in the theoretical learning environment. When students are placed in the CLE, students interact and rely on professional nurses and interpersonal relationships develop between the professional nurses and students. Table 4.2 presents the two categories in this theme. There were no sub-categories.
Table 4.2: Self-trust and trusting relationships
Categories
Students entering nursing education with self-trust
Building relationships with educators and professional nurses
4.3.1 Students entering nursing education with self-trust
Students trust their own capabilities to cope with the challenges of the nursing programme. Part of students’ self-trust is trust in the nursing programme what they intend to follow. Participants reported that they commenced the nursing programme without knowing what would be expected from them and they believed in themselves to complete it. The motivation and self-trust of the students inspired them to reach out to someone in the nursing education environment to guide them and whom they could trust. Relationships developed from the students’ self-belief and self-trust and the interaction with educators and professional nurses. Nursing is not an occupation where one works alone, but a group of individuals in a team is involved. This emphasises the
importance of developing relationships with educators and professional nurses. Participants remarked on this as follows:
“I think you must have that trust ... you must trust yourself, because it is a whole new environment, now you are doing this nursing now ... it is your job. You have to take care of ... you have to put in everything. So you still feel kind of lost. I am sure you will look for someone in that environment that you can trust, guide you.” (G3)
“And you can trust yourself that you believe in yourself as well. ... You just have to believe in yourself and you work together as a team and you trust that the knowledge that you do have will help you in a situation. So they are not throwing you in the deep end and expect you when you are not able to swim. You know, they trusted that you will swim.” (G2)
According to the participants, first-year students entered the programme with blind trust that the educators would assist them to become competent professional nurses. Participants shared that students had to have self-trust, and trust the school, the system, the personnel and educators.
“You just trust first and then ... I’m trusting myself to sign this contract and I want to be part of this school ... And also trust the system, trusting the management, trusting the lecturers that are going to help you to achieve that thing that you go there, the thing is: I’m going there to be nurse.” (G6)
Blind trust is when a person easily believes another one without verifying the truth (Covey & Link 2012:49-50), and such a person has a high propensity to trust and is gullible (Covey & Link 2012:66). Pariticipants indicated that students entered nursing education with blind trust; they trusted the educators and professional nurses for support and believed the programme would be of a high quality with high standards.
Participants expressed the view, that if students believed in themselves internally it assisted students to succeed. Participants mentioned that students should act with self- discipline to face all the challenges during the nursing programme.
“You must believe in yourself that you are going to make it ... having discipline, self-discipline ... leadership qualities, you should be able to stand up on your own and face a lot of difficulties during the course, and to be a leader.” (G1)
Self-trust of participants was the origin of trust in the nursing education environment. First, students’ self-confidence gave them self-trust to work and relate with others. Teamwork experiences in the clinical environment enabled students to relate with professional nurses. To work in a team is important for patient care in the CLE.
“I think trust is a very important thing for a nurse or a sister, especially in the type of environment in which we find ourselves. You must really trust yourself too … Because we work with lives. It is not … you must know what you are doing.” (G13)
Findings indicated that participants viewed self-belief and self-trust as the centre of relationships with the educators and professional nurses. The interactions between students and the educators and professional nurses are fundamental for the development of trust. Weber (2011:413) maintains that trust provides a foundation for interpersonal interaction and can transform to become sustainable trust among people. Covey and Link (2012:20) affirm that trust creates an upward cycle, because if trusting relationships increase in an organisation, engagements among people increases, and that creates a trusting climate.
Students interact with educators and professional nurses and that affect trusting relationships in their nursing education.
4.3.2 Building relationships with educators and professional nurses
Self-trust was viewed by participants as the basis of all relations. The self-trust ensured the development of relations in nursing education. The rationales for the relationships are for the obtainment of a qualification in nursing.
“Because I think it forms the basis of all relations and it also serves towards the ... not only to the quality produces but the quality that is still in line … one just enters in a nursing college, for example, but the aim of getting a qualification.” (G10)
Participants shared that initially students entered the nursing education environment without any previous experiences. Students were unfamiliar and uncomfortable in the new teaching and learning environment. A relaxed environment promotes interactions in the teaching and learning environment created openness to build trust.
“And you also get to, you get comfortable with them, you ask questions, because when you get there the first day you are on your own and you see these people for the first time and just looking, you just are not feeling comfortable enough to ask questions yet. But with times, then it is not that bad, and then you asked questions.” (G6)
In the study of Herron, Sudia, Kimble and Davis (2016:332) students stressed the importance of educator-students trusting relationships. If trust was not present, the students believed their learning was affected negatively.
According to the participants, interaction and communication were regarded as important for the development of interpersonal relationships in nursing education. More communication and interaction clarified the misunderstandings and it enhanced interpersonal relationships among members of the multidisciplinary team.
“Communication has a very important role in trust because the more you communicate with someone it is then that you know the way of that person, you get to understand the way they are doing things. When you are seeing someone is doing something and you do not communicate to that person and understand why they are really doing that, you won’t trust the person, because of the way they are doing something, whilst you do not know why they do it. … And it improves the interpersonal relationship between the multidisciplinary team.” (G8).
The professionalism of educators and professional nurses played an important role to build relationships with each other. Through the interactions with educators and professional nurses, participants considered professionalism as the foundation of trust.
“You create trust by being professional. This is the foundation on which, what the purpose of professionalism is. It is to tell people this is what you can expect and why you have state registration.” (G11)
Milton (2012:25-26) emphasises ‘acting faithfully’ as important for trust in the nurse- patient relationship. Behaviours that illustrate faithfulness create trust in educators and professional nurses. During interactions between students, educators or professional nurses, students expected professionalism to regard educators or professional nurses as faithful.
Participants indicated that there was a need to know the educator, and interaction between the educator and students provided the opportunity to identify the educators’ strengths and weaknesses. Students made decisions based on the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of educators and if they could interact with the educator in a manner where confidentiality would be respected.
“…like maybe build the friendship with them and whether to check the strengths of the person and the weaknesses, whether or what you talk to the person, the two of you, … is it going to be confidential?” (G11)
From participants’ responses it may be inferred that trust and trusting relationships develop from the students’ self-trust and interaction with the educators and professional nurses. Students’ interactions with educators and professional nurses were the basis of the impressions of professionalism of educators and professional nurses. In the theoretical and clinical environments, interaction with the educators and professional nurses ignited the trust and trusting relationships. Participants viewed students had certain expectations of educators and professional nurses to build trust.
Participants expected educators and professional nurses to have sufficient competencies in nursing education.