Jumping off the cliff: an exploratory descriptive study examining the development of self-efficacy in new academic nurse faculty transitioning to classroom teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study was to examine the development of self-efficacy in novice nursing faculty members’ transitioning to classroom teaching. Bandura’s (1997) Self-Efficacy Theory was the theoretical basis for this study. Through a series of interviews, two themes and four sub-themes were identified: i) “Transitioning to the Classroom” and ii) “Nursing is Not Teaching”. These themes highlighted factors that fostered and hindered the development of self-efficacy through the participants’ transition to the classroom. Factors that influenced successful transition and development of self-efficacy included providing an orientation, mentorship, team teaching, and experience teaching in the classroom. Factors that hindered self-efficacy development included anxiety and the professional gap between nursing and teaching roles. Recommendations for nursing education and for future research were suggested. These findings provide further support to the literature on professional role transition to the educator role and Bandura’s (1997) Self-Efficacy Theory.