Comparing Efficacy of Implementing Two Teaching Methods Contract Learning and Traditional Instruction on Clinical Skills of Nursing Students in Psychiatric Wards of Hospitals of Tehran

Abstract

Background and purpose: A learning contract is defined as a written agreement between teacher and student which makes explicit what a learner will do to achieve specified learning outcomes. Learning contracts have been used as a teaching and learning strategy for both undergraduate and graduate nursing students in many countries. Methods : This research is a quasi-experimental study that compares effect of two different teaching methods , Contract learning and traditional on clinical skills for a group of nursing students who were in fourth year of study in a pre-registration bachelor of nursing degree program in Tehran . A learning contract was implemented as a learning tool in the students clinical placement in psychiatric nursing .Data were connected from questionnaires , interviews and clinical evaluation papers with students . Results : The results showed that students agreed that there was an increase in students autonomy and motivation in learning with the use of learning contract . It also increased the sharing between students and clinical instructors. Conclusion : According to the findings of this study , contract learning is considered beneficial to students learning and has the potential to be used in clinical learning . Key words : NURSING STUDENTS, LEARNING CONTRACTS , TRADITIONAL METHOD , MOTIVATION , AUTONOMY, PSYCHIATRIC WARDS .