Building Resilience and Competence in Bachelor Nursing Students: A Narrative Review of Clinical Education Strategies

Background/Objectives: In contemporary nursing education, clinical competence and psychological resilience are essential but often treated as separate outcomes. Clinical placements are central to nursing education but often expose students to high levels of stress, emotional challenges, and complex clinical demands. Building both clinical competence and psychological resilience during this phase is essential to preparing students for the realities of professional practice. This narrative review, grounded in Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), explores how educator behaviors, teaching strategies, and learning environments interact to shape both domains in undergraduate nursing students. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO for peer-reviewed articles published between 1 January 2000 and 2 May 2025. Relevant studies were thematically analyzed and were guided by Bandura’s SCT constructs, including observational learning, self-efficacy, and reciprocal determinism. Findings: This review included 19 studies. The findings highlight that reflective practices, structured feedback, peer learning, and strategies to build self-efficacy are central to building resilience and competence. Supportive educator behaviors such as mentoring, emotional support, and professional modeling, were strongly associated with students’ confidence, emotional regulation, and adaptability. Psychologically safe clinical learning environments further amplified self-efficacy and active engagement. Conversely, unsupportive or inconsistent environments were linked to stress, disengagement, and lower performance. Conclusion: This review highlights the need to move beyond traditional competency-based models toward an integrated approach that equally values psychological preparedness and resilience. Findings suggest a shift toward emotionally and socially integrated clinical education.