Nursing Students’ Experiences using Narratives to apply Nursing Theories and Models: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Background:
Narrative pedagogy in nursing education has been recognized as a transformative approach that bridges theoretical knowledge and clinical practice while promoting reflection, empathy, and professional identity formation. By engaging with stories drawn from clinical and personal experiences, nursing students connect nursing theories to the lived realities of care.

Aim:
To identify and synthesize qualitative evidence on nursing students’ experiences using narratives to apply nursing theories and models in educational contexts.

Methods:
A qualitative systematic review was conducted following the JBI meta-aggregative approach (Porritt et al., 2024). The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024629548). Comprehensive searches were performed in seven databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, Virtual Health Library, and LILACS) and five sources of grey literature. Studies were included if they explored nursing students’ experiences with narrative-based learning in mobilizing nursing theories or models. Ten studies (1994–2024) met the inclusion criteria, encompassing 720 participants across Europe, the USA, Korea, and Australia. Data were extracted, critically appraised using JBI-QARI, and synthesized into meta-aggregated findings through inductive thematic analysis.

Results:
Thirty-four findings were extracted and aggregated into five categories, leading to two synthesized findings: (1) Learning by sharing experiences with peers, which emphasizes how dialogic reflection and peer narratives enhance ethical reasoning, empathy, and shared professional understanding; and (2) Integrating theory and practice through critical reflection, highlighting how reflective narratives enable students to translate abstract nursing theories into real-world care. Both syntheses showed high methodological reliability and moderate-to-high credibility according to ConQual assessment.

Conclusions:
Narrative pedagogy fosters reflective, ethical, and evidence-informed learning. By facilitating peer dialogue and structured reflection, it strengthens professional identity formation and narrows the persistent theory–practice gap in nursing education. The integration of narrative-based strategies into curricula is essential for preparing reflective, compassionate, and critically engaged practitioners.