Nursing Students’ Perspectives on Support Interventions to Prevent Academic Failure: A Qualitative Study

Background: Academic failure (AF) is an major burden in nursing education. AF is associated with emotional distress, reduced motivation and high dropout rates, particularly in the early years of training. Although the various support strategies mitigate AF, such as tutoring, peer tutoring and psychological support, their implementation often lacks alignment with students’ real needs and preferences. Exploring students’ perspectives on these interventions may provide valuable insights to counteract AF and enhance educational success. Aim: The present study aims to explore the opinions of Nursing Degree Programme (CLI) students regarding the support strategies described in the literature to counteract AF. Methods: This qualitative study adopted a phenomenological approach and involved semistructured interviews with 20 second- and third-year nursing students from the Lodi section of the CLI at the University of Milan. The interviews focused on five academic support strategies detected from the literature. Following Braun and Clarke’s framework, thematic analysis was applied to identify recurring patterns and key insights. Results: Four main themes emerged: (a) The perceived value of personalised and continuous tutoring; (b) the importance of informal yet structured peer relationships; (c) the need for accessible and normalised psychological support; and (d) the relevance of performance-enhancing strategies that are flexible, empathetic and nonjudgemental. Students emphasised the relational component of each intervention and expressed a clear preference for integrated, student-centred approaches. Conclusions: Understanding students’ perceptions is essential to designing support interventions that are theoretically sound, contextually feasible and emotionally accepted. Findings suggest that fostering trusting relationships, reducing stigma and tailoring strategies to individual needs may enhance self-efficacy, satisfaction and persistence, ultimately reducing AF. These insights should inform the development of evidence-based educational policies in nursing programmes.