Lived Experiences of Iranian Novice Nursing Faculty in Their Professional Roles

Many studies have focused on understanding the novice nursing faculty experiences on their roles and challenges that they encounter. But there are merely little evidences about Iranian novice nursing faculty experiences to perform their roles. In many universities of Iran, a novice faculty has to attend in a set of educational workshops (e.g. teaching and assessment methods), which are not based on their specific needs. Qualitative approach may provide first hand data needed to understand novice nursing faculty perceptions to develop an actual empowerment program. A qualitative design based on phenomenological approach was applied to uncover the meaning of novice nursing faculties’ lived experiences in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Iran). Five main themes emerged from data as: “Importance of support”, “Bewilderment”, “Efficiency concern”, “Concern of being accepted” and “Clinical education: Walking on the edge”. These themes implied to uncertainty about fulfilling the academia expectations by novice faculty, desire to overcome the challenges, time limitation, and, unfriendly behavior from senior colleagues. Findings support that more than formal programs, such as workshops, the novice faculty can be empowered by other approaches (e.g. mentorship programs) where they can safely transit into academia under supervision of experienced colleagues. Also, this may facilitate the socialization process of novice faculty to academia and clinical fields.