effect of a supportive-educational and a supportive-only program on novice nurses’ clinical competency: a quasi-experimental study in iranian teaching hospitals

Introduction: enhancing the clinical competency of novice nurses remains a critical concern in nursing management. this study aimed to determine the effects of a supportive-educationaland a supportive-only intervention on the competency levels of novice nurses.methods: we conducted a quasi-experimental study with three parallel groups in three teaching hospitals in mashhad, iran. a total of 97 novice nurses participated and were allocated into three groups based on their hospital assignments. the first intervention group received a four-week supportive-educational program tailored for novice nurses. the second intervention group participated in a supportive-only program targeting nurse managers, and the control group completed the routine hospital orientation. competency was measured using the creightoncompetency evaluation instrument (c-cei) at baseline and two months later by head nurses. data were analyzed with stata 17 at a 0.05 significance level.results: after adjusting for pre-intervention scores, the supportive-educational intervention group showed a statistically significant improvement in competency scores compared to the control group (β=10.86, p=0.006, 95% ci: 5.28, 16.44). the supportive-only program also demonstrated a significant statistical effect on nurse competency (β=5.20, p=0.049, 95% ci:0.01, 10.39). however, the improvement was less pronounced than that observed in the supportive-educational intervention group.conclusion: both supportive-educational and supportive-only programs improved the novice nurses’ clinical competency, with the supportive-educational intervention producing morepronounced effects. these findings suggest that both programs can be implemented in clinical settings to enhance novice nurses’ clinical competency, with the choice tailored to resources, staffcapacity, and institutional needs.