Evaluation of Students' Perceptions of Clinical Education Environment and Academic Self-Sufficiency: a cross-sectional study*

Aim: Clinical learning environments are important for education of health care professionals. Students’ satisfaction with, motivation about and self-confidence in clinical environments, as part of their education, can be related to their academic self-efficacy. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate perceptions of clinical education environments and perception of academic self-efficacy in second-, third- and fourth-year students in the health sciences and nursing departments of Adnan Menderes University Material and Methods :The study included a total of 678 students voluntarily accepting to participate in the study. Data were collected with a self-report questionnaire composed of three sections. The first section included questions about socio-demographic features, perceived success and career choices. The second section included Academic Self-Efficacy Scale. The third section included Clinical Learning Environment Scale. Results: Most of the students were female and from the nursing department. The mean academic self-efficacy score was 18,66±3,09 (range: 7-28). The nursing students, the male students, the students with higher perceived success and the students planning to attend a PhD program after graduation had significantly higher scores. The mean score for Clinical Environment Scale was 127,42±21,56. The students planning to follow a post-graduate career path, those having higher perceived success, those not missing a term, the nursing students, the female students and the second-year students had higher scores. Conclusions: More positive clinical environments as practice areas of the schools which offer education for students who will become health care providers will increase their academic self-efficacy