Hearing distressing voices clinical simulation: "life changing" experiences of psychiatric-mental health nursing students.

The purpose of the current qualitative study was to investigate the experience of baccalaureate nursing (BSN) students with the clinical simulation of hearing distressing voices and derive themes from the written reflective data of students' evaluative statements. A purposive convenience sample of BSN students (N = 74) was recruited from two nursing cohorts at a private, religiously affiliated university BSN program in the northeastern United States. Student reflections on three evaluation questions of the simulation experience were analyzed using constant comparison as per naturalistic inquiry methodology. Themes emerged from each of the three questions related to students' experiences of hearing the simulated voices. Findings support the value of this simulation as a means to promote both active and affective learning in BSN students as they enter psychiatric-mental health clinical rotations.