ABSTRACT
Defects of instruction by traditional methods as well as worldwide technical advances have introduced new approaches to teaching and learning. WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of WebQuest and lecture on students' learning of electrocardiogram interpretation. Using a quasi-experimental design, 42 nursing students were allocated to examination and control groups by the stratified random sampling method equally. The educational content was consisted of the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac rhythm disturbances taught during four lecture sessions to the control group and in five stages' WebQuest activity to the experimental group. The learning outcomes in both groups were examined before and after the intervention and two weeks after the intervention. Data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. There was no difference between the groups' learning scores before the intervention [P>0.05]. After the intervention, the scores of both groups increased. However, the scores of the students in the WebQuest group were higher than the students in the lecture group [P=0.022]. Both the teaching methods resulted in improving students' knowledge, but the WebQuest method was more effective than the lecture method to the learning of nursing students. The results of this study can help nurse instructors to replace traditional teaching methods with new methods
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Male , Students, Nursing , Internet , Lecture , ElectrocardiographyABSTRACT
Due to the increase in the number of Alzheimer's patients in Iran and also the limitation of cultural knowledge about caring of these patients, this study was designed to explore the perceptions of Iranian caregivers about caring Alzheimer patients in the elderly care homes. A qualitative content analysis method was conducted on two elderly care homes of Shiraz/Iran, during 2009-2011. Fourteen key informants [10 women and 4 men, between 25-35 years of age], who had been working in elderly care homes caring for the elderly with Alzheimer disease for about 1-11 years [Mean=30 months] were selected by purposive sampling method. The caring experience and ability of transferring their experience to others were the main criteria for selection of the participants. They were participated in 2 focus groups and 4 interviews. Nearly, 800 initial codes were extracted and categorized into 3 groups of "multidimensional care", "going along with the patients" and "need to be professional" and 12 subcategories. Although several aspects of care were mentioned by the participants but the main aspect was physical care. Infantilizing the patients was the main feature of care and caring personality was an important characteristic of caregivers. An appropriate schedule of care considering main categories and subcategories of this research based on cultural context should be prepared. Moreover, consistent promotion of the schedule, employment of trained staff and plans for continued education for them can improve the quality of care and patient's life in elderly care homes