Clinical supervision and nursing students' professional competence: support-seeking behaviour and the attachment styles of students and mentors

Aims. To examine whether the interdependent attachment style of students is positively related to their support-seeking behaviour during supervision and whether their overdependent and counter-dependent attachment styles are negatively related to it. Second, to determine whether the mentors' attachment styles moderate the relationship between the students' support-seeking behaviours and their professional competence, such that this relationship is stronger when supervisors are characterized by higher independent attachment style. Background. The mentor-student encounter during nursing clinical supervision is expected to create a supportive environment aimed at promoting support-seeking behaviours and subsequent positive supervision outcomes. Bowlby's attachment theory suggests that the three attachment styles - independent, counter-dependent and over-dependent - may have implications for clinical supervision. Design. A correlative-prospective study. Method. One hundred and seventy-eight students and 66 clinical mentors completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of a clinical supervision session during 2012-2013. Results. Results demonstrated that high compared with low independent nursing students tended to seek less support. Second, students who seek less support evaluated their professional competence as higher than students who seek more support. Third, mentor's counter-dependent attachment style moderated the relationship between students' support-seeking behaviour and their professional competencies. Conclusions. The results allude to the detrimental meaning of support-seeking in the eyes of nursing students. Results can guide administrators in promoting supervision processes that are compatible with the students' independent learning style, while also preventing the negative implications of autonomic learning. Furthermore, as mentors' counter-dependent attachment style can hinder students' support-seeking, attachment styles should be considered in the selection of mentors.