Recentering on the Essentials: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Survey of Academic Coordinators’ Perspectives on Student Self-Care in Nursing Curricula

IntroductionThe increasing complexities and demands of modern nursing practice necessitate a shift in educational priorities toward a more holistic and integrated model. This approach promotes the concurrent development of students’ theoretical knowledge, clinical skills, and self-nurturing abilities. As key stakeholders, academic coordinators play a central role in incorporating nursing student self-care into education; however, their perspectives have been underrepresented in the existing research.AimInformed by Dossey’s theory of integral nursing, this study aimed to explore academic coordinators’ perspectives on how nursing student self-care has been taught and assessed in participating Indonesian nursing education institutions.MethodsA multicenter cross-sectional descriptive study incorporating quantitative and qualitative approaches was conducted. An online survey with both closed and open-ended questions was used to collect data across 13 institutions, with a total 25 academic coordinators invited to participate. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and summative content analysis. Responses were analyzed at the academic coordinator level.ResultsThe intention–action gap, which illustrates the divergence between what respondents rated as necessary to teach and their actual self-care teaching practice yielded positive values across all self-care dimensions. Three key themes were identified: navigating challenges, differences in teaching and assessment approaches, and envisioning future change.ConclusionThe findings suggest that less emphasis was placed on teaching nursing student self-care across the participating institutions, with opportunities for improvement across all dimensions. Discrepancies between the two datasets also emerged, potentially reflecting a complex interplay between structural and cultural dimensions shaping self-care. Nursing student self-care integration into education should go beyond isolated initiatives to foster synergetic structural and cultural transformations to create a supportive learning environment that embodies and reinforces self-care. This will encourage students to recognize self-care as a foundation for personal well-being and professional practice, aligning with contemporary nursing education’s core value of caring for others and oneself.