"Please don't expose me": students' perceptions of psychological safety during peer feedback on presentations.

Introduction: Psychological safety is essential for meaningful participation in peer learning activities, particularly those involving public performance and evaluation. While peer feedback on oral presentations is widely used in health professions education to enhance evaluative judgment and communication skills, limited research has examined how students experience psychological safety during such feedback encounters. In culturally relational and gender-sensitive contexts, public critique may be interpreted as social exposure rather than academic support. This study explored how undergraduate health students perceive and negotiate psychological safety when giving and receiving peer feedback on oral presentations. Methods: An interpretive (hermeneutic) phenomenological design was adopted. Eighteen undergraduate health and health-related students at King Faisal University participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants had recently delivered oral or case-based presentations followed by peer feedback. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke's six-phase framework. Rigor was supported through reflexive journaling, peer debriefing, member checking, and maintenance of an audit trail. Results: Four interconnected themes were generated: (1) Public feedback as social threat, where public critique amplified vulnerability and concerns about loss of face; (2) Instructor as safety broker, highlighting the teacher's role in framing, moderating, and shielding students from harsh commentary; (3) Relational calculus in giving feedback, where comments were filtered through friendship, hierarchy, and gender sensitivities; and (4) Making peer feedback safe and useful, emphasizing the value of anonymous or written channels and growth-oriented framing. Students did not reject peer feedback itself but resisted formats that heightened social risk. Discussion: Peer feedback on presentations is experienced as a socially negotiated event rather than a purely pedagogical activity. Psychological safety determines whether feedback is received as developmental or exposing. Structured moderation, culturally sensitive facilitation, and protected feedback channels enable rigorous yet dignity-preserving peer learning. Designing psychologically safe feedback practices is essential for preparing reflective and communicative health professionals.