Arab nursing students' perception of the emotional experience of patient care: A phenomenological study

Background A shared emotional response helps with understanding what other people are feeling and/or thinking; and it is a vital skill in clinical settings. Collectivist communities place more emphasis on the emotional components of their feelings in comparison to the cognitive aspects of their emotions. Purpose This study aimed to explore the emotions experienced by students at their first clinical placement. Methods A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used among nine baccalaureate students. Results Three major themes emerged from the data: overwhelming emotions; unbalanced perception of professional identity; and adjustment and adaptation. Conclusions and Discussion It is evident that nursing students from collectivist communities encounter challenges in dealing with their emotions and managing their patients' emotions; however, they were capable of empathizing with their patients using the two components of their empathy; affective (emotion) and cognitive (cognition), with prominence given to the affective part. As countries become increasingly multi‐cultural, which in turn influences the characteristics of people entering pre‐registration nursing programs, nursing leaders are invited to address both dimensions of empathy as part of the nursing curriculum. Attention should also be given in clinical settings to appropriate channeling of clinical empathy to cultivate a professional identity.