2 satisfaction with the clinical experience. Such knowledge can assist nurse educators as well as they prepare both students and preceptors for the preceptorship roles and responsibilities. 2. Background At best, limited research on the intergenerational context of the teaching and learning process in higher education has been conducted and, in particular, no published studies have been carried out on preceptorship or ﬁeld education in the intergenerational context [5]. A lack of research is also noted in the area of preceptorship rewards, speciﬁcally in relation to working with someone of a diﬀerent generation. There is some literature available which more broadly identiﬁes the rewards of preceptorship from the view of the preceptor [4, 6–14]. These studies reveal both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of being a preceptor. Some examples of intrinsic rewards include seeing student growth and development, opportunities to strengthen teaching skills and inﬂuence practice, improve own knowledge base and critical thinking skills, and the opportunity to reﬂect on and evaluate one’s own practice. Extrinsic rewards identiﬁed include pay diﬀerentials, opportunities for continuing education, journal subions, luncheons, and other similar initiatives. It is sug- gested in the literature that rewards must be individualized and those that are deemed to be personally/professionally meaningful contribute most to continued commitment to the preceptor role [15, 16]. The aﬃrming nature of preceptorship from the point of view of the preceptee has not been examined speciﬁcally; however in one phenomenological study, the lived experience of student nurses in relation to learning was explored, and three main themes were identiﬁed: directing learning, learn- ing in practical action, and feeling in learning [17]. These themes provide unique insight into the diﬀerent modes of learning from the student’s perspective. While no rewards were mentioned per se, the authors highlight the important responsibility of nursing faculty in providing “real life” positive situations for students. One other study (not speciﬁc to preceptorship) examined the experiences of nursing students in relation to professionalism [18]. A total of 69 baccalaureate nursing students at diﬀerent educational levels participated in the study and the researchers reported that “knowing” and “belonging” were aﬃrming for students in their professional role. Overall, a review of the literature reveals that there is limited research available on the topic of preceptorship and aﬃrmation. Owing to this, it is diﬃcult to ascertain whether any of the aﬃrming aspects identiﬁed in the literature relate directly to being precepted by/precepting someone from a diﬀerent generation. Findings from the current study help to ﬁll this gap in the literature. 3. Research Methodology Phenomenology was the methodology employed for this study. The goal in phenomenological human science research Nursing Research and Practice is to develop a rich, deep interpretation of lived experi- ence that enables externalization of that which is internal and may not have been reﬂected upon previously [19]. Phenomenological researchers strive to make such insight available to others who have a similar interest in the phenomenon. This study was guided by van Manen’s [19] approach to phenomenology. van Manen draws from the works of inﬂuential phenomenological philosophers such as Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty, and others, to oﬀer methodological guidance for researchers interested in conducting phenomenological inquiry. His particular approach is more “action sensitive” than philosophical and he promotes conducting human science research to speciﬁ- cally inform and improve pedagogy. van Manen notes that phenomenological reﬂection presents the possibility of thoughtful praxis through individual and collective self- understanding. 4. Research Questions Two main phenomenological questions guided this research study (1) What is it like to precept a student who is of a diﬀerent generation? (2) What is it like to be precepted by a nurse who is of a diﬀerent generation? 4.1. Sample. To recruit participants for this study, the prin- cipal investigator worked in collaboration with the Clinical Placement Coordinator (CPC) of an undergraduate nursing program in Eastern Canada where the principal investigator was formerly employed. The principal investigator was the coordinator of the third year preceptorship course for a period of about six years and was familiar with many of the preceptors and students. The principal investigator and CPC met to purposely identify participants who would be open and willing to discuss their experiences. The goal in purpo- sive sampling is to deliberately look for “information rich cases that capture analytically important variations in the target phenomenon” and select participants based on their knowledge and ability to communicate about their expe- rience of the phenomenon under investigation ([20, page 181]). With this in mind, we chose students of diﬀerent age ranges (i.e. Millennials and Generation X), and preceptors of diﬀerent age ranges (i.e., Generation X and Baby Boomers) as well as both males and females. In order to avoid any perceived coercion, the invitations to participate in the study were distributed by the CPC via email. Small sample sizes (e.g., 6–10) are characteristic of phe- nomenological studies [21] as the goal is not to make external generalizations about the population, but to attempt to gain deep insight into the meaning of the lived experience [19, 22]. In this study, there were 14 participants: seven of these were nursing students and seven were preceptors. Of the seven students, four were female, three were male, two were Gen Xers, and ﬁve were Millennials. Of the seven preceptors, six were female, one was male, and all were Gen Xers. All of the preceptors had at least ﬁve years of experience precepting students and the student participants were all in their ﬁnal year of their nursing program and were reﬂecting upon