Building innovative minds - The role of project planning course in enhancing nursing students' critical thinking, lifelong learning, and individual innovativeness skills: A quasi-experimental non-randomized study.
Aug 2026· Nurse Education Today· Vol 168, pp.
107372
· 0 citations· 22 references
Medicine
TL;DR
The effectiveness of a structured project planning course in enhancing nursing students' individual innovativeness, especially in areas such as opinion leadership and risk-taking, is demonstrated.
Abstract
Background
Equipping nursing students with 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, lifelong learning, and innovativeness is vital for safe and high-quality patient care. Although 21st-century competencies are increasingly emphasized as essential outcomes of nursing education, project planning courses remain insufficiently integrated into nursing curricula. Furthermore, there is a paucity of empirical evidence regarding its effects on individual innovativeness, critical thinking motivation, and lifelong learning among nursing students.
Objective
This study aimed to examine the effect of a structured project planning course on nursing students' critical thinking motivation, individual innovativeness, and lifelong learning levels.
Methods
This quasi-experimental study was conducted with second-year nursing students (intervention group: n = 19; control group: n = 19). The intervention group participated in a 14-week structured project planning course. Pre- and post-intervention measurements were conducted using the Critical Thinking Motivation Scale, Individual Innovativeness Scale, and Lifelong Learning Scale. Data were analyzed using paired and independent t-tests as well as repeated measures ANOVA.
Results
Significant improvements were observed in the intervention group's total IIS scores (η2 = 0.024, p = 0.032), particularly in the subdimensions of opinion leadership (p = 0.012) and risk-taking (η2 = 0.082, p = 0.021). The qualitative shift in innovation profiles, supported by graphical analysis, showed a transition from passive adopter categories to "Innovators" and "Early Adopters" by the end of the course.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a structured project planning course in enhancing nursing students' individual innovativeness, especially in areas such as opinion leadership and risk-taking. While the impact on critical thinking motivation and lifelong learning was limited, emerging trends point to the potential for improvement with broader and more sustained application. These findings support the integration of structured project planning course into nursing education, emphasizing the value of combining theoretical instruction with practical research experiences.
The study underscores the importance of aligning theoretical instruction with clinical practice through stronger supervision, availability of clinical materials, and improved collaboration between training schools and clinical sites to enhance student competence and contribute to quality nursing care in Zambia.
Sarah Banda, Lonia Mwape, C. Ngoma· Texila international journal...· 0 citations
Introduction: The integration of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) into nursing education faces challenges in linking theory to clinical application in complex family health contexts. Students struggle with efficiently accessing, appraising, and applying evidence influenced by sociocultural factors. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers transformative potential but requires pedagogical design to foster critical thinking and ethical use beyond technical skills.Method: An action research with mixed methods was conducted with 100 nursing students. The intervention had four phases: participatory family diagnosis, AI-assisted evidence retrieval and validation, community educational workshops design and execution, and multi-level evaluation.Results: A significant shift in AI use from basic to strategic, with a 40% reduction in literature search time. Qualitative data revealed enhanced critical awareness and ethical reasoning, while quantitative results indicated 90% of students improved critical appraisal skills and 70% felt more confident in evidence-based decisions. The project impacted 100 families, with 90% trusting evidence-based recommendations.Conclusions: Integrating AI in experiential pedagogies like Design Thinking and Service-Learning effectively develops nursing competencies, ensuring technology adoption supports context-sensitive family health learning outcomes.
Maria Graciela Villalba-Condori, Carla Cuya-Zevallos· Publicaciones· 0 citations
The findings suggest that concept mapping may be an effective learner-centered teaching strategy for strengthening critical thinking among undergraduate nursing students.
B. Devi, Champa Sharma, S. Pradhan et al.· The Malaysian Journal of Nur...· 0 citations
BACKGROUND
Traditional lecture-based teaching in nursing education often leads to limited student engagement, poor knowledge retention, and low self-confidence, particularly in complex fields such as mental health nursing, where students must navigate abstract clinical presentations and develop interpersonal skills that cannot be reduced to algorithmic protocols. Game-based learning (GBL) has emerged as an interactive strategy to enhance motivation, critical thinking, self-directed learning (SDL), and academic self-efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of GBL integrated into a mental health nursing internship on SDL and academic self-efficacy among undergraduate nursing students.
METHODS
A quasi-experimental, two-group, pretest-posttest design with a one-month follow-up was employed. Forty-six sixth-semester nursing students from Abadan University of Medical Sciences (Iran) were enrolled and allocated to an intervention group (n = 23) or a control group (n = 23) based on the pre-existing scheduling of their clinical internship rotations. After accounting for attrition, the final analytical sample comprised 40 participants (intervention: n = 20; control: n = 20). The intervention group received GBL integrated with standard instruction, while the control group received conventional internship training only. The intervention involved a custom-designed board game with scenario-based challenges delivered over 10 sessions (40 h total). Outcomes were measured using the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) and the College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) at pretest, posttest, and one-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni-corrected pairwise comparisons for within-group changes, independent t-tests for between-group comparisons, and Cohen's d for effect sizes. A sensitivity analysis for attrition bias was conducted using a pattern-mixture model under best-case, worst-case, and intermediate imputation scenarios.
RESULTS
Groups were homogeneous at baseline (P > 0.05 for all demographic and outcome variables). In the intervention group, repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects of time for both SDL (F(2,38) = 38.74, P < 0.001, partial η²=0.67) and academic self-efficacy (F(2,38) = 42.51, P < 0.001, partial η²=0.69). Post-intervention, the GBL group showed significant improvements in SDL (mean difference: 16.25 ± 8.03, P < 0.001) and academic self-efficacy (mean difference: 12.50 ± 7.14, P < 0.001), with large effect sizes (Cohen's d = 1.25 and 1.56, respectively). These gains were maintained at the one-month follow-up, with no significant decline from posttest to follow-up (SDL: P = 0.784; self-efficacy: P = 0.821). The control group exhibited no significant changes across any time points (P > 0.05). Between-group differences were significant at posttest (SDL: P = 0.037, d = 0.68; self-efficacy: P = 0.029, d = 0.72) and at follow-up (SDL: P = 0.043, d = 0.66; self-efficacy: P = 0.034, d = 0.70). Sensitivity analyses confirmed that the findings were robust to plausible patterns of missing data due to attrition, with the treatment effect remaining significant even under worst-case imputation scenarios.
CONCLUSION
GBL integrated into a mental health nursing internship significantly enhanced SDL and academic self-efficacy, with effects sustained at one-month follow-up. These findings support the integration of game-based strategies into nursing curricula as a student-centered approach to bridge theory-practice gaps and foster durable self-regulatory capacities. Further research with larger samples, multi-site designs, and extended follow-up periods of six to twelve months is recommended to confirm the generalizability and long-term durability of these effects.
Alireza Rafi, Maryam Heidari, Seyed Mohammad Salehi Behbahani et al.· BMC Medical Education· 0 citations
Findings support embedding mind-body practices into nursing curricula and continuing education programs, using experiential learning to foster holistic well-being, lifelong learning, and professional competence.
N. Izgu, Zehra Gök Metin· Global Nursing Insights· 0 citations
Background/Objectives: Communication training in undergraduate nursing skills courses is often overshadowed by procedural skill acquisition, leaving limited opportunities for students to develop patient-centered communication skills and engage in reflective learning. This study evaluated a reflection-integrated CICARE communication program embedded in a Fundamentals of Nursing skills course and explored students’ learning experiences. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with an embedded qualitative component was conducted among second-year undergraduate nursing students in China. The quantitative component used a non-equivalent control group design, while reflective journals from the Intervention Group provided qualitative data on students’ learning experiences. Two intact classes were assigned to the Intervention Group (n = 65), and two intact classes were assigned to the Control Group (n = 66). The Intervention Group received an 18-week CICARE-based communication program integrated into skills training, including scenario-based role-play, emotional cue recognition, demonstration videos, feedback, and reflective journals. The Control Group received conventional skills training. Outcomes included communication competence, empathy, professional identity, clinical judgment, and course performance. Analysis of covariance was used to compare post-intervention outcomes after adjustment for baseline scores. Reflective journals from the Intervention Group were analyzed thematically. Results: After adjustment for baseline scores, the Intervention Group showed significantly higher communication competence than the Control Group (adjusted mean difference = 2.699, 95% CI: 0.108–5.291, p = 0.041). Empathy was also higher in the Intervention Group (adjusted mean difference = 3.796, 95% CI: 0.538–7.053, p = 0.023). The between-group difference in professional identity was not statistically significant (p = 0.073). The Intervention Group achieved higher total clinical judgment scores than the Control Group (31.52 ± 5.50 vs. 27.20 ± 6.45, p < 0.001), with significant differences in noticing, interpreting, and reflecting. Course performance was also higher in the Intervention Group. In their reflective journals, students described greater patient-centered awareness, attention to patients’ emotional needs, professional reflection, and motivation for self-directed learning. Conclusions: Integrating CICARE-based communication training with reflective learning may strengthen communication competence, empathy, clinical judgment, and course performance in undergraduate nursing skills education. Further studies with longer follow-up are needed to determine whether the observed differences persist over time and whether professional identity and action-oriented clinical responses improve with longer educational exposure. Registration: This study was not registered.
Qingqing Feng, Min Liu, Tang Tang et al.· Nursing Reports· 0 citations
