Workplace Experiences that Relate to the Self-Direction of Novice Nurses

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to clarify workplace experiences that are related to the self-direction of novice nurses.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted for 16 nurses in their third year of working. The participants were employed in the hospital directly after graduating from the basic nursing education program. The data were analyzed using the modified grounded theory approach.
Results: Workplace experiences relating the self-direction of novice nurses began with cultivating clinical thinking, which led to accumulating confidence in the self based on “increasing self-esteem”. Furthermore, the experience of expanding the opportunity to demonstrate one's ability which was based on “increasing self-esteem”, led to further “increasing self-esteem”.
Conclusion: The transformation of the self-direction of novice nurses was an important experience key to “increasing self-esteem”. The self-esteem increase was related to obtaining approval based on interactions with others, suggesting that approval support in line with the development of novice nurses is important.