The 'values journey' of nursing and midwifery students selected using multiple mini interviews: evaluations from a longitudinal study

Values-based practice is deemed essential for healthcare provision world-wide. In England, values-based recruitment methods, such as multiple mini interviews (MMIs), are employed to ensure that healthcare students’ personal values align with the values of the National Health Service (NHS), which focus on compassion and patient-centeredness. However, values cannot be seen as static constructs. They can be positively and negatively influenced by learning and socialisation. We have conceptualised students’ perceptions of their values over the duration of their education programme as a ‘values journey’. The aim of this hermeneutic longitudinal focus group study was to explore the ‘values journey’ of student nurses and midwives, recruited through MMIs, across the three years of their education programme. The study commenced in 2016, with 42 nursing and midwifery students, originally recruited onto their programmes through multiple mini interviews. At the third and final point of data collection, 25 participants remained. Findings indicate that students’ confidence, courage and sense of accountability increased over the three years. However, their values were also shaped by time constraints, emotional experiences and racial discrimination. We argue that adequate psychological support is necessary as healthcare students embark on and progress through their values journey, and propose a framework for this.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Groothuizen, JE, Callwood, A, Allan, HT. The ‘values journey’ of nursing and midwifery students selected using multiple mini interviews: Evaluations from a longitudinal study. Nurs Inq. 2019;e12307. , which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12307. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.