Abstract
Effective teaching methods are vital for cultivating advanced professional skills in nurses and equipping them with the necessary training. Problem-based learning (PBL) and self-directed learning (SDL) have been consistently used in nurse education. Therefore, their effects on nursing students’ academic performance warrant comparison. This study compared the effects of PBL and SDL on an adult nursing university curriculum. Participants in this quasi-experimental study with a pre-post non-equivalent control group design were 106 third-year nursing students divided into the PBL and SDL groups. Data collection, conducted from April to June 2019, included a pre-test before an eight-week intervention, followed by a post-test. Changes in the scores of each group were analyzed for learning motivation, self-directed learning ability, self-efficacy, learning confidence, learning satisfaction, and academic performance using paired and independent t-tests. The PBL group scored higher on learning motivation, self-directed learning ability, and academic performance than the SDL group. Based on these results, the PBL method was more effective than the SDL method in an adult nursing curriculum. To maximize the learning effect in adult nursing education, it is necessary to apply SDL education, including the PBL method, with a clearer learning process.
Highlights
Today’s medical environment requires nurses to have clinical reasoning abilities, collaboration skills, and the ability to identify and solve patient problems
After excluding four students—two members of the self-directed learning (SDL) group and one member of the Problem-based learning (PBL) group who did not take part in the post-test, and one member of the PBL group who took a leave of absence during the semester—the data from 106 participants (52 from the PBL group, 54 from the SDL group) were analyzed
As per the homogeneity test of participants’ general characteristics, there were no significant differences between the PBL and SDL groups, thereby confirming homogeneity between the two groups
Summary
Today’s medical environment requires nurses to have clinical reasoning abilities, collaboration skills, and the ability to identify and solve patient problems. To ensure that students acquire these abilities, nursing colleges are striving to shift from existing teaching methods, which are focused on lectures and rote learning, to diverse and scientific methods [2]. Such a shift will help improve the quality of nurse education, develop student potential, and promote well-rounded growth, so that students can gain professional competence.
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