Introduction: Enhancing nursing students' professional knowledge and integrating simulation and clinical training into students' education may affect their career planning and development.
Objectives: This study aimed to explore how managerial and leadership training and simulation affect career planning knowledge, career choice, and self-efficacy among senior nursing students. Additionally, it explored how students perceived the training they received.
Methods: This study employed a mixed methods design for collecting quantitative and qualitative data about the training. A quasi-experimental design using a pretest and posttest with a convenience sample of senior nursing students ( = 80) at a Saudi nursing college guided the quantitative part. Nursing students were introduced to a managerial and leadership training and simulation intervention focused on career knowledge. The career planning questionnaire and a self-efficacy scale were used to collect quantitative data before and after the intervention, and the open-ended questions were used for qualitative data about the training they received. For the quantitative data, we used descriptive and inferential statistics, and for the qualitative data, we used content analysis.
Results: After the training sessions, nursing students' career planning knowledge and self-efficacy scores were considerably enhanced, with a significant difference and positive associations ( < .001). Four themes were driven from the qualitative analysis: student engagement, experiential learning and reflection, the teacher's role as facilitator, and teamwork.
Conclusions: Knowledge and preparedness are essential elements for career planning and development. Nursing curricula should provide students with ongoing educational opportunities to help them enhance their career planning and self-efficacy. As well, nurse managers play an important role in shaping the career paths of senior undergraduates and internship nurses. Career counseling sessions and career activities can be scheduled frequently before graduation and during the internship year, which is essential for prelicensure and orientation.
