Mohammad-Reza Ghasemi1, Hossein Karimi-Moonaghi1,2, Abbas Heydari3. 1. Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. 2. Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. 3. Evidence-Based Caring Research Center, Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Sir,As nurse educators face challenges to graduate competent nurses to function in multifaceted healthcare systems, the values of student engagement have become important.[1] Comprehensive academic and clinical engagement of nursing students can enhance the quality of education.[2] The concept of student engagement refers to the quality of time, effort, and resources that students spend on educationally purposeful activities.[3] For a clinical discipline like nursing, clinical activities also need to be included in defining engagement. However, none of the available definitions includes clinical engagement. In this regard, effective strategies should be developed to promote Iranian nursing students' clinical engagement.[4] For this, using best theory-based strategies to increase students' engagement has always been the main concern of Iranian nursing educators.[5] The possible reason could be the concept of student's engagement is ambiguous in the field of academic and clinical nursing education in Iran and limited research has been done on its definition, dimensions, and optimal strategies.[5] Therefore, many aspects need to be clear through a well-designed theory-based educational research, either qualitative or quantitative.[5] First, this concept should be theoretically analyzed and the conceptual framework for Iranian nursing students' clinical engagement needs to be developed. Second, the indicators of the academic and clinical engagement must be defined. Third, the clear and valid criteria for measurement of nursing students' engagement need to be developed. Fourth, the best way nurse educators can promote and maintain students' clinical engagement should be investigated and the relationship between variables related to the clinical environment and students' engagement must be explained as well as how these variables influence their academic performance should be determined. Fifth, the factors affecting the academic engagement of nursing students need to be determined from the aspects of educators, students, and educational environments. Sixth, the roles of educators to enhance nursing students' engagement in the classroom and clinical settings need to be clarified. Seventh, the outcomes of student engagement need to be well established. Finally, further innovative theory-based research is warranted to demystify the concept of academic and clinical engagement in Iranian nursing students' education. In sum, the concept of nursing students' engagement in clinical activities in Iran can be an attractive subject for conducting qualitative research.