Home Visit Experiences of Students Within the Scope of Public Health Nursing Course: A Qualitative Study.

Aim: The aim of this study is to identify the experiences of student nurses who made home visits for the first time within the scope of public health nursing course. Methods: The descriptive phenomenological approach design, a qualitative model, was used in the study. The sample of study consisted of 15 fourth-year nursing students. The interview guide prepared by the researchers consists of 6 questions related to the students' experiences regarding home visits. The interviews were conducted in classroom, lasted for about 40 minutes, and recorded on the tape recorder. All the records obtained during the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed consecutively. The participants' answers were read separately and repeatedly by both researchers and encodings were made and themes were created. Results: The data obtained from the interviews were collected under five themes: "home visit practice concern", "professional role", "difficulties encountered during home visit practice", "dealing with the difficulties encountered in home visit practice", and "difference between theory and field practice". Conclusions: Nursing students were initially found to be reluctant and anxious about performing a home visit. Furthermore, the lack of professional home visits in Turkey has reduced the motivations of students in their practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]