The purpose of this study was to explore nursing students' perceptions of their final clinical learning environment and its association with their self-assessed competence, satisfaction with nursing education, and turnover intentions at graduation in six European countries. A multi-country comparative cross-sectional study was conducted with nursing students (n = 1746) from the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain using the Nurse Competence Scale and the Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision scale. Nursing students' overall perceptions of their final clinical learning environment and supervision were positive in all the countries studied. The correlation between the students' perceptions of their final clinical learning environment and competence was statistically significant and positive. Satisfaction with the nursing program and clinical practicum and no consideration of career change were related to positive perceptions of the final clinical learning environment. Highlighting the importance of the supervisory relationship and pedagogical atmosphere, nursing students' positive perceptions of the final clinical learning environment and supervision contribute to a better level of self-assessed competence and satisfaction with the nursing program and clinical practicum, leading to lower turnover intentions.

Centre of Higher Education for Health Sciences University of Verona Verona Italy

Department of Biostatistics University of Turku Turku Finland

Department of Community Nursing Lisbon School of Nursing Lisbon Portugal

Department of Nursing and Midwifery Faculty of Medicine University of Ostrava Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Nursing Science Fundación San Juan de Dios Centro de Ciencias de la Salud San Rafael Universidad Antonio de Nebrija Madrid Spain

Department of Nursing Science Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin Comenius University in Bratislava Bratislava Slovakia

Department of Nursing Science University of Turku Turku Finland

Diaconia University of Applied Sciences Helsinki Finland

Medical Department University of Udine Udine Italy

Nursing Department Universitat Rovira i Virgili Tarragona Spain

School of Health Sciences University of Aveiro Aveiro Portugal

Turku University Hospital Turku Finland

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