Assessing second victim experiences among healthcare students: Validation of the SVEST-S and implications for clinical education

IF 4.5 3区医学 Q1 NURSING

Nurse Education in Practice Pub Date : 2026-07-01 Epub Date: 2026-06-16 DOI:10.1016/j.nepr.2026.104892

Andrea Albert-Galbis, José Verdú-Soriano, Héctor González-De la Torre, M. Flores Vizcaya-Moreno

{"title":"Assessing second victim experiences among healthcare students: Validation of the SVEST-S and implications for clinical education","authors":"Andrea Albert-Galbis, José Verdú-Soriano, Héctor González-De la Torre, M. Flores Vizcaya-Moreno","doi":"10.1016/j.nepr.2026.104892","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aim</h3><div>To validate the student-adapted <em>Second Victim Experience and Support Tool</em> (SVEST-S) and to explore the prevalence and characteristics of second victim experiences among healthcare students following PSIs during clinical placements.</div></div><div><h3>Background</h3><div>Healthcare students are increasingly exposed to patient safety incidents (PSIs) that can lead to significant psychological distress, commonly referred to as the Second Victim Phenomenon (SVP). However, few studies have examined this experience during undergraduate clinical education.</div></div><div><h3>Design</h3><div>A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among healthcare students completing clinical placements in 54 medical centres across Eastern Spain.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data were collected through online and in-person surveys, including demographic variables and the SVEST-S instrument. Construct validity and reliability were assessed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using polychoric correlation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A total of 299 students participated (113 nursing, 113 medical, 32 physiotherapy and 41 podiatry). Exploratory factor analysis supported a 5-factor, 26-item model, which showed an adequate fit (CFI = 0.956, NNFI = 0.931, GFI = 0.97) and strong reliability (α = 0.84). The mean total SVEST-S score was 2.97 (SD 1.15), indicating moderate distress. Approximately one in three students (34.5%) identified as second victims during their clinical placements.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The SVEST-S demonstrated strong construct validity and reliability, confirming its suitability for assessing second victim experiences among healthcare students. This validated tool provides educators with an evidence-based framework to identify student distress, enhance emotional support and foster psychologically safe learning environments within clinical education.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48715,"journal":{"name":"Nurse Education in Practice","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 104892"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nurse Education in Practice","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471595326001952","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/6/16 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

To validate the student-adapted Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (SVEST-S) and to explore the prevalence and characteristics of second victim experiences among healthcare students following PSIs during clinical placements.

Background

Healthcare students are increasingly exposed to patient safety incidents (PSIs) that can lead to significant psychological distress, commonly referred to as the Second Victim Phenomenon (SVP). However, few studies have examined this experience during undergraduate clinical education.

Design

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among healthcare students completing clinical placements in 54 medical centres across Eastern Spain.

Methods

Data were collected through online and in-person surveys, including demographic variables and the SVEST-S instrument. Construct validity and reliability were assessed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using polychoric correlation.

Results

A total of 299 students participated (113 nursing, 113 medical, 32 physiotherapy and 41 podiatry). Exploratory factor analysis supported a 5-factor, 26-item model, which showed an adequate fit (CFI = 0.956, NNFI = 0.931, GFI = 0.97) and strong reliability (α = 0.84). The mean total SVEST-S score was 2.97 (SD 1.15), indicating moderate distress. Approximately one in three students (34.5%) identified as second victims during their clinical placements.

Conclusions

The SVEST-S demonstrated strong construct validity and reliability, confirming its suitability for assessing second victim experiences among healthcare students. This validated tool provides educators with an evidence-based framework to identify student distress, enhance emotional support and foster psychologically safe learning environments within clinical education.

查看原文本刊更多论文

评估医疗保健学生的第二次受害者经历：SVEST-S的验证及其对临床教育的影响。

目的：验证学生适应的第二次受害者经历和支持工具（SVEST-S），并探讨在临床实习期间，医疗保健学生的第二次受害者经历的患病率和特征。背景：医疗保健专业的学生越来越多地接触到可能导致严重心理困扰的患者安全事件（psi），通常被称为第二受害者现象（SVP）。然而，很少有研究在本科临床教育中考察这一经验。设计：在西班牙东部54个医疗中心完成临床实习的保健专业学生中进行了横断面描述性研究。方法：通过在线调查和现场调查收集数据，包括人口统计变量和SVEST-S量表。建构的效度和信度通过探索性因子分析和验证性因子分析进行评估。结果：共有299名学生参与，其中护理113名，内科113名，物理治疗32名，足部41名。探索性因子分析支持5因素26项模型，模型拟合良好（CFI = 0.956, NNFI = 0.931, GFI = 0.97），信度强（α = 0.84）。平均SVEST-S总分为2.97 (SD 1.15)，为中度焦虑。大约三分之一的学生（34.5%）在临床实习期间被确定为第二受害者。结论：SVEST-S量表具有较强的结构效度和信度，适用于医疗保健专业学生的二次受害经历评估。这个经过验证的工具为教育工作者提供了一个基于证据的框架，以识别学生的痛苦，加强情感支持，并在临床教育中营造心理安全的学习环境。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Nurse Education in Practice NURSING-

CiteScore

5.40

自引率

9.40%

发文量

180

审稿时长

51 days

期刊介绍： Nurse Education in Practice enables lecturers and practitioners to both share and disseminate evidence that demonstrates the actual practice of education as it is experienced in the realities of their respective work environments. It is supportive of new authors and will be at the forefront in publishing individual and collaborative papers that demonstrate the link between education and practice.