Aim: The overall aim is to create knowledge about how nursing students’ learning in pairs can be supported in order to create prerequisites for encounters that provide caring and learning support during clinical practice. Approach and method: A reflective lifeworld research (RLR) approach founded on the epistemology of phenomenology and hermeneutics was used. Based on interviews, diary entries and observations with patients, students and supervisors, descriptive and interpretive analysis in accordance with the RLR approach was performed. Main findings: Students’ learning in pairs is based on encountering and caring for the patients together. The responsibility of caring for the patients, which is given to the students by their supervisors, is based on supportive relationships that are characterized by movements between independence and cooperation. Supporting students learning in pairs is characterized by a reflective approach focusing on learning in togetherness, where the individual student is also reached and seen, providing opportunities for developing important abilities for learning and caring. Depending on the ability to show respect and to take responsibility a more or less supportive relationship between the patients, the students and the supervisors is created within the learning space. Conclusions: Supporting students’ learning in pairs is complex due to it taking place in a caring context, where respect must be given towards the patients, the students, the supervisors and other participants who are closely connected to the learning space. Since learning in pairs affects and interweaves learning and caring environments, a reduction to either one of them, learning or caring, is not possible but instead the learning space must be understood as a whole. Optimal conditions for learning in pairs are based on dynamic movements, which require a reflective supervising approach. If these conditions are missing, there is a risk of creating both fragmented caring and learning, where the patients ́ vulnerability and safety needs to be taken into account. Keywords: caring science; clinical practice; learning space; learning support; pairs of nursing students; reflective lifeworld approach

Psykiatrisk öppenvård utgör en viktig komponent inom den svenska psykiatriska vården och behovet av sådan verksamhet ökar för varje år. Specialistsjuksköterskans kompetens och patientdelaktighet utgör en framgångsfaktor för en god psykiatrisk vård, samtidigt som denna delaktighet ofta kommer med utmaningar. Utebliven delaktighet riskerar att leda till vårdlidande. Den här studiens syfte var att undersöka sjuksköterskors upplevelser av patientdelaktighet inom den svenska psykiatriska öppenvården. Upplevelsen av patientdelaktighet utforskas genom kvalitativa intervjuer med sju sjuksköterskor, som arbetar i den öppen psykiatriska vården i Västra Götalandsregionen. Studien har sin metodologiska utgångspunkt i reflekterande livsvärldsforskning och intervjuerna analyserades med hjälp av induktiv innehållsanalys. Resultatet sammanfattades till tre huvudkategorier, Främja patientens deltagande, att skapa rum för patientens röst och sjuksköterskans roll i patientens vårdresa, vilka sammanfattade intervjuernas huvudlinjer. Resultatet indikerar att patientdelaktighet i likhet med tidigare forskning är central för ökad vårdkvalitet, men också hur denna begränsas av resursbrist. Vårdrelationen framträder som en nyckelfaktor i patientdelaktigheten, men resursbrist hindrar sjuksköterskan från att bygga och bibehålla dessa. Studien bidrar med insikter gällande resurstilldelning och organisatoriska förändringar, som kan stärka patientens delaktighet, öka vårdkvalitet och minska vårdlidande. Genom att åskådliggöra sjuksköterskornas röster, belyser denna studie behovet av förändringar som möjliggör ökat patientengagemang och ökad patientdelaktighet inom psykiatrisk öppenvård. Studien belyser behovet av att adressera resursbegränsningar och implementering av individuellt anpassad delaktighet genom exempelvis tekniska hjälpmedel. Fortsatt forskning föreslås fokusera på just detta. Studien uppmanar specialistsjuksköterskor inom psykiatri att prioritera byggandet av starka, förtroendefulla relationer till sina patienter i syfte att främja patientdelaktigheten samt att använda sin expertis för att individanpassa denna. / Psychiatric outpatient care is an important component of Swedish psychiatric care, and the need for such activities increases every year. The specialist nurse's competence and patient participation are a success factor for good psychiatric care, while this participation often comes with challenges. Non-participation risks leading to poor care. The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses' experiences of patient participation in Swedish psychiatric outpatient care. The experience of patient participation is explored through qualitative interviews with seven nurses, who work in outpatient psychiatric care in the Västra Götaland region. The study has its methodological point of departure in reflective life-world research and the interviews were analyzed using inductive content analysis. The results were summarized into three main categories, promote the Patient´s Participation, to Create Space for the Patient's Voice and The Nurse's Role in the Patient's Care Journey, which summarized the main lines of the interviews. The results indicate that, similar to previous research, patient participation is central to increased quality of care, but also how this is limited by a lack of resources. The care relationship appears as a key factor in patient participation, but a lack of resources prevents the nurse from building and maintaining these. The study contributes insights regarding resource allocation and organizational changes, which can strengthen patient participation, increase care quality and reduce care suffering. By illustrating the nurses' voices, this study highlights the need for changes that enable increased patient engagement and increased patient participation in psychiatric outpatient care. The study highlights the need to address resource limitations and implementation of individually adapted participation through, for example, technical aids. It is suggested that further research focus on precisely this. The study urges specialist nurses in psychiatry to prioritize the building of strong, trusting relationships with their patients in order to promote patient participation and to use their expertise to tailor this to the individual.