Kwan Sharis
Caritas Institute of Higher Education, China
Title: The effectiveness of using adventure-based training in enhancing the competency, self-efficacy and resilience among nursing students for clinical practicum
Biography
Biography: Kwan Sharis
Abstract
Background & Aim: Clinical practice is a vital component in nursing education that provides students with real-life opportunities to practice in hospital and community settings. Nevertheless, with an increasing complexity of the healthcare system, accountability for patient care and expectations for higher-quality service from the general public, clinical practicum can be a very stressful experience for nursing students. Th is study aimed to examine the eff ectiveness of using adventure-based training in enhancing the self-effi cacy, resilience and competency among nursing students towards clinical practicum.
Methods: A pilot Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), two-group pretest and repeated posttest, betweensubjects design was conducted in a tertiary institution. Twenty (20) baccalaureate nursing students were invited to participate with 10 students received 1-day adventure-based training (experimental group) and another 10 students received the same amount of time and attention as the experimental group but not in such a way as to have any specifi c eff ect on the outcome measures (placebo control group) before clinical practicum. Adventure-based training was based on the experiential learning theory that emphasize on physical challenge, periods of refl ection, overcoming adversity and team work building. Most importantly, the training allowed students to experience the “cannot” and learn to achieve the “can”; such experience could enhance students’ self-effi cacy and resilience, consequently improved their competency for clinical practicum. Participants’ self-effi cacy, resilience and competency were assessed at the time of recruitment, 1-week, 3-months and 6-months aft er clinical practicum.
Results: Participants in the experimental group reported statistically signifi cant higher levels of self-effi cacy (p<0.01), resilience (p<0.01) and competency (p<0.01) than those in the placebo control group.
Conclusion: Adventure-based training was found to be eff ective in enhancing nursing students’ competency, self-effi cacy and resilience towards clinical practicum. Th e fi ndings of the pilot study support for a large RCT on the eff ectiveness and sustainability of such training.