Compassion within an academic setting: Experiences of student nurses

Compassion is fundamental to the delivery of quality nursing care and is an expected core competency that students must achieve to become a registered nurse. Nurse educators have a role in teaching compassion and in cultivating compassionate behaviours, among students, thus this novel study explores the student nurse's experience and understanding of compassion within the academic setting. A qualitative descriptive study using digitally recorded focus group interviews was undertaken with student nurses (n = 32) to explore their experiences of compassion in an academic setting. Data analysis was performed based on Braun and Clarke's framework of thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: students understanding of compassion, students experience of compassion within the academic setting and supporting compassion in an academic space. Student nurses reported their experiences of compassion as predominantly positive. They advocated for further ‘space’ within the curriculum for more formalised approaches to foster supportive relationships and to improve their experience of compassion within the academic setting. It is important to understand students' perspectives as this can guide teaching practice, organisational policy reform, and future research.