Effects of Simulation Education on the Communication Competence, Academic Self-efficacy, and Attitude About the Elderly for Nursing Students: A learning approach based on an elderly-with-cognition-disorder scenario / 한국간호교육학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of simulation in nursing education based on caring for elderly cognition disorder patients. The education consisted of a caring program for patients that included a process of assessment of a patient's mental status, diagnosis of the patient's health condition, and intervention to address the problems by using therapeutic communication. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. A total of 69 subjects (undergraduate students) participated in the education and they were assigned to two groups the experimental group (n=32) and the control group (n=37). Data-gathering structured questionnaires that included communication competence, academic self-efficacy, and attitudes about the elderly. The data were collected from October 2013 to December 2013, and statistical analyses were conducted with-test and t-test using the SPSS 21.0 program. RESULTS: With respect to education, there was significant improvement in communication competence in the experiment group (t=2.41, p=.022) compared with in the control group (t=.69, p=.494). However, there was no statistically significant difference in academic self-efficacy and attitude about the elderly. CONCLUSION: Simulation-based education should continue to be developed further for better elderly-patient care. Integrated education in particular using a high-fidelity simulator will contribute to improvements in nursing competence in this area.