Description du processus réflexif de l'étudiant en soins infirmiers de premier cycle : expérience de la réalisation du travail d’initiation à la démarche de recherche

In France, undergraduate nursing programs have been part of a university plan since 2009 in order to harmonize with the European higher education policy. The formal education system is now built according to a competency-based approach and highlights the place of research with the introduction of a teaching unit, associated with an initiation to the research process. The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the meaning of the reflective process for undergraduate nursing students in France, based on their experience of completing their final assignment project, related to the initiation to a research process. However, to date, there was no scientific study understanding the reflective process of undergraduate nursing students, in the context of research-based training, and more particularly when completing their final assignment project pertaining to an initiation to the research process. The current state of knowledge was insufficient and therefore did not allow describing the reflective process in this context. Thus, in view of this observation, a descriptive phenomenological study was undertaken, while performing qualitative interviews with 14 students of three nursing education institutes in France. The interviews were analyzed using Giorgi’s phenomenological method of analysis (1997a). The data analysis process allowed the emergence of the following five themes, illustrating the meaning of the reflective process based on the participants' experiences: 1) "Activity influenced by facilitating elements"; 2) "Approach optimized by the support and validation of the trainer"; 3) "Heuristic approach in learning"; 4) "Activity involving personal investment and time management"; and 5) "Co-Construction of professionalization". These five themes invite to the formulation of the essence of the phenomenon: the meaning of undergraduate nursing students’ reflective process corresponds in "a professionalization process characterized by socio-constructivism and carriing a personal commitment, which shapes the nursing professional ethos ". The present study provides an innovative approach to knowledge development by proposing a reflective visual representation for an undergraduate student completing the final assignment project within the program, integrating the initiation to a research process. This visual representation illustrates the richness and complexity of the essence of the reflective process, an interdependent and heterogeneous weaving of fragrances resulting from the results. In light of the findings obtained from this descriptive phenomenological study, the student-researcher identified knowledge contributing to a description and understanding of the reflective process of participating undergraduate nursing students, from France. From the results, it was possible to identify leads and recommendations with regards to the nurse's various fields of activity, namely education, clinical, management, and research. Thus, are addressed in the field of nursing education, the identified knowledge legitimizing the place of an initiation to a research process at the undergraduate level and focusing on the trainer’s posture to accompany students. Then, the interdependence between the reflective process and the approach to a singular and complex clinical situation is evoked in the clinical domain. In the field of management, the student-researcher is suggesting decision-makers and managers to be aware of the betterment of the reflective process in order to develop such a culture. Finally, the research domain invites the establishment, in France, of a field of investigation specific to the knowledge development in education for the discipline of Nursing.

Keyphrases: Reflective process, Training through research, Final university assignment project, Professionalization, Socio-constructivism, Commitment, Nursing professional ethos