Supporting professional development for early career pre-tenure nursing faculty using Narrative Reflective Process

Abstract

Background: Early career, pre-tenure nursing faculty face significant challenges as they navigate the demands of academia, particularly during their first year. While there is growing research about pre-tenure faculty needs, specific insights into early career nursing faculty, especially in Canada, is limited. It is also not known how professional development strategies such as Schwind’s Narrative Reflective Process (NRP) could facilitate integration into academia and support professional growth. The purpose of this article is to explore the application of NRP as a professional development tool for nursing faculty during their first year of a tenure-track position.

Methods: At a large urban school of nursing in Canada, four pre-tenure nursing faculty members in their first year of appointment engaged in a series of collaborative, professional development exercises guided by a senior faculty member using NRP. A composite reflection was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: Six themes emerged from the faculty members’ experiences using NRP: needing time to reflect, learning process, creative process, sharing experiences and finding our unique path, experiencing emotions, and looking forward.

Discussion: This article highlights the experiences of NRP on early career nursing faculty. Findings reveal the need for dedicated reflection time to foster emotional engagement. Creative activities deepened insights into faculty identities, while sharing experiences fostered community and collaboration. Faculty expressed enthusiasm for applying NRP in future educational and research contexts, recognizing its value for ongoing professional development. 

Conclusion: NRP is a promising tool to promote professional development in early career tenure-track nursing faculty in academia.