Introduction: In nursing education, the organization of international placements and the support offered to students is widely different from one program to another.
Context: In relation to the perspective of nursing students, few research works explore the elements of the learning environment that interact with their ability to open up to the different realities of nursing practice in the context of an international placement.
Objective: Guided by a constructivist cultural competence development model, this qualitative case study explored the elements of the learning environment that interact with the development of nursing practice in culturally diverse contexts through an international clinical placement.
Method: A qualitative case study has been conducted. Ten students who had recently been on an international placement participated in an individual in-depth interview. A thematic data analysis was done.
Results: The results of this study highlight three interrelated themes: getting support through multiple collaborations, finding one’s place in the host environment, and perceiving a gap between the expectations of the students and the lived experience. These themes deepened our understanding of learning environments in students’ cultural competence development, particularly regarding their ability to open up to the different realities of practice in a culturally diverse context.
Discussion: This study contributes to defining the learning environment by integrating support as a collaboration with multiple partners.
Conclusion: This study is an addition to current knowledge regarding the interactions between the learning environment and the development of cultural competence in nursing.