4 will enable the externalization of our participants’ lived experience. Reﬂexivity on the part of the researchers was instrumental in maintaining a strong and oriented relation to the phenomenon. Reﬂexivity relates to self-awareness and the acknowledgement that the actions and decisions of the researcher invariably impact upon the meaning and context of the phenomenon under investigation and is also a means of showing honesty and transparency in the research process [27, 29]. During this study, we reﬂectively explored our observations, prereﬂections, taken for granted assumptions, critical thinking, and decision-making. In particular, we acknowledge that we have made assumptions at times that the diﬀerent generations do not understand each other. In our view, a lack of awareness of generational diﬀerences can lead to tension and/or conﬂict in the preceptor-student rela- tionship. Such tension can have a negative impact on student learning as well as the overall success of preceptorship. It is also our view that promoting understanding of generational diversity is an important responsibility of nursing faculty. Husserl [30] used the term “bracketing” to describe how researchers must put aside any preexisting knowledge or assumptions they may have about the phenomenon; however van Manen [19] questions whether it is realistic for researchers to truly put aside their knowledge of the subject. He posits that it is not necessary to “bracket” the informa- tion, but rather researchers have a responsibility to make their knowledge of the phenomenon explicit. He goes further to suggest that presuppositions may resurface into the researcher’s reﬂections when we try to forget that which we already know. Throughout this study, we sought to make our personal knowledge of the phenomenon more explicit through the use of a reﬂective journal. To further ensure rigor, our participants were aﬀorded the opportunity to conﬁrm and extend the initial interpre- tations during the second interviews. Our participants not only openly shared their experiences, but also engaged in an interpretive conversation/relation with the researchers and, during the second interviews, we believe a “phenomeno- logical nod” was evident. Munhall [31] refers to the “phe- nomenological nod” as participants nodding in agreement when reading or listening to the study ﬁndings, which is indicative that their experience has been captured by the researcher (page 189). One other means of ensuring rigor was to examine the study themes in the context of current nursing research literature [22] and, in so doing, we found our themes to be supported by the work of other researchers. 5. Findings and Discussion In this study, the phenomenon of preceptorship within the intergenerational world of nursing practice was found to be inclusive of three main themes: being aﬃrmed, being challenged, and being on a pedagogical journey. As mentioned previously, our purpose in this paper is to examine the ﬁrst of these themes in depth. To begin, let us explore the meaning of the phrase being aﬃrmed. From an etymological point of view, the word “aﬃrm” derives from the French afermer and from the Latin aﬃrmare, meaning to make Nursing Research and Practice steady, strengthen, and consolidate [32]. More speciﬁcally, the term “aﬃrm” is deﬁned as “to validate, conﬁrm, state positively with conﬁdence, declare as a fact, assert to be true” ([33, page 35]). In the context of this study, being aﬃrmed relates directly to the participants’ experiences of being validated, strengthened, and consolidated, all of which were identiﬁed as rewards of either precepting or being precepted by someone from a diﬀerent generation. After asking participants to describe their own generation and what they like about that generation, we also explored their thoughts about other generations. Inherent in the reﬂections of all participants was the notion that the overall experience was an aﬃrming one. As one student remarked: It was fantastic. I’ve had really good experiences. . . never once did I feel from them [preceptors] that they put me down or made me feel any less than what I was—which is still a student. . . I could always go to them with any kind of question, there was never a stupid question. So they were really open-minded and ﬂexible when it came to that. I always ask questions. . . I like to seek out my own experiences, but they’re always the same, looking for experiences for me to take part in. . . I just found it was great, I didn’t have any complaints.” (Christina) Similarly, another student commented: I didn’t have any encounters that were bad at all. They [preceptors and staﬀ] were really accepting, and they were happy that I was interested and eager for learning and wherever they could help out, they helped out. . . a really positive experience. (Ashley) Another student, Kayla, also described her preceptorship in the intergenerational context as a very positive experience and felt that her preceptor’s up to date knowledge base and positive attitude toward the younger generation was refresh- ing. She stated: She was very welcoming to students. She didn’t have that negative attitude that ‘oh students are lazy’ because I think she had really good experiences in the past. She even told me ‘every student I’ve had in the past was really good and worked hard’ so I kind of think that that worked to my beneﬁt. She was still really up to date too. . .so I found that was good too...she was really knowledgeable. (Kayla) One of the Gen X students was aﬀorded the unique opportu- nity of working with a preceptor of the same generation. He reﬂected on his experience as follows: My ﬁrst preceptor for the 3rd year course was actually my own generation—X, which was great, because we kind of had the same attitudes, I feel anyway. I think it went great. . . I loved the whole experience. (Mark)