The Northern Mental Health Nursing Qualitative Research Forum meets three times a year to connect Mental Health Nurse researchers interested in, and conducting, qualitative research, methodologies and innovations. If you wish to be added to the mailing list, please contact james.turner@shu.ac.uk. The following session was recorded at their fifth event on Friday 3 May 2024. With thanks to Prof Karen Wright and Dr James Turner for organising the event and the invitation to support with recording the sessions. Author: Sarah Traill Title: Making sense of the feedback experience: An interpretative phenomenological analytic study exploring the lived experiences of student mental health nurses receiving written feedback on their assessments. Abstract: The aim of providing students with written assessment feedback is to support future development (Carless & Boud 2018; Hattie & Timperley 2007; Pitt & Quinlan 2022; Winstone & Nash 2016). Feedback itself has been identified as having a powerful effect on learning and development (Hattie & Timperley 2007; Wisniewski, Ziere & Hattie 2019). In an age of neoliberal marketized education, feedback is a common source of students’ dissatisfaction and thus detrimentally affects NSS and TEF outcomes (Winstone & Carless 2021; Winstone, Ajjawi & Boud 2021). In an attempt to enhance students’ satisfaction and league table position, HE institutions have focused their efforts on consistency and standardisation of assessment feedback practices, yet satisfaction with assessment feedback remains poor (Winstone, Ajjawi & Boud 2021). This research explores the phenomena using IPA to draw out idiographic and group experiential themes that capture how students make sense of the feedback experience. This research considers feedback from an interconnected perspective, exploring the students understanding of themselves and their position in the world of education. The research identified two key conceptual themes of “Educational Baggage” and “The mediating influence of relationships”. Rather than approaches which game the NSS and TEF metrics, this research highlight the importance of authentic learner centred approaches to assessment feedback. The resulting principles of practice and recommendations offer flexible, adaptable, and efficient routes towards enhanced student engagement, agency, attainment and satisfaction.