Using group peer reflection to support learning disability nursing students during placements
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Using group peer reflection to support learning disability nursing students during placements

Teresa Greene Clinical lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast, and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Lynne Marsh Senior lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Why you should read this article:
  • To acknowledge the difficulties that nursing students may experience during clinical placements

  • To recognise that students may need additional support to overcome the challenges of practice learning

  • To learn about group peer reflection sessions offered to learning disability nursing students in Northern Ireland

Nursing students tend to experience high levels of stress and anxiety, particularly in relation to clinical placements, and may require additional support to manage challenging aspects of practice learning. One way of providing additional support to students is to offer group reflection sessions. This article discusses the use of facilitated group peer reflection sessions for learning disability nursing students from Queen’s University Belfast on placements in one trust area in Northern Ireland. The sessions, part of the Connecting Peers in Learning Disability (CoPe-LD) project, had high attendance rates and low logistical and labour requirements. Students gave overwhelmingly positive feedback, explaining that the sessions had supported them with knowledge development and clinical decision-making and had given them a sense of support and safety, which may have helped them to discuss difficulties experienced during their placements.

Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2025.e2265

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

teresa.greene@qub.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Greene T, Marsh L (2025) Using group peer reflection to support learning disability nursing students during placements. Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2025.e2265

Published online: 09 January 2025

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