Proposal Title
Session Type
Presentation
Start Date
8-7-2011 10:30 AM
Keywords
Nursing education, learning attitude, health sciences education, questionnaire design, nursing, students
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
The first year biochemistry course in the nursing program at McMaster University has traditionally been taught by that department as an online course. This year, the course is being taught face to face, through the nursing department, with an attempt to “pull together” the basic science content with core concepts of nursing care. The literature shows that nursing students tend to have difficulty relating abstract scientific information to clinical situations1. They are also apt to ignore information not seen as relevant to their view or perspective of nursing1. Since their attitude has been shown to affect academic performance2, this study was designed to examine changes in attitude resulting from highlighting the relevance of basic biochemistry to nursing practice. Our study utilizes a mixed methods approach that consists of two phases. Phase I encompassed the development of an instrument to measure nursing student attitudes towards biochemistry. Qualitative information, gathered from faculty and upper level students about their perspectives on the value of biochemistry in a nursing program, was used to create assertions. The procedure followed in the construction of the instrument, including attempts to ensure validity and reliability, was previously presented as a poster and will be included in the discussion. Phase II consists of an online survey, administered at the beginning and end of the course, containing a likert scale linked to those statements. This talk will present the preliminary findings from the study and describe how the introduction of clinical relevance in the teaching of biochemistry affects student attitudes.
1Thornton, T. (1997). "Attitudes towards the relevance of biological, behavioural and social sciences in nursing education." J Adv Nurs 26(1): 180-186.
2Harvey, T. J. and J. Vaughan (1990). "Student nurse attitudes towards different teaching/learning methods." Nurse Educ Today 10(3): 181-185.
Measurement of Change in Nursing Students’ Attitudes Towards Biochemistry in a Clinically Relevant Course
The first year biochemistry course in the nursing program at McMaster University has traditionally been taught by that department as an online course. This year, the course is being taught face to face, through the nursing department, with an attempt to “pull together” the basic science content with core concepts of nursing care. The literature shows that nursing students tend to have difficulty relating abstract scientific information to clinical situations1. They are also apt to ignore information not seen as relevant to their view or perspective of nursing1. Since their attitude has been shown to affect academic performance2, this study was designed to examine changes in attitude resulting from highlighting the relevance of basic biochemistry to nursing practice. Our study utilizes a mixed methods approach that consists of two phases. Phase I encompassed the development of an instrument to measure nursing student attitudes towards biochemistry. Qualitative information, gathered from faculty and upper level students about their perspectives on the value of biochemistry in a nursing program, was used to create assertions. The procedure followed in the construction of the instrument, including attempts to ensure validity and reliability, was previously presented as a poster and will be included in the discussion. Phase II consists of an online survey, administered at the beginning and end of the course, containing a likert scale linked to those statements. This talk will present the preliminary findings from the study and describe how the introduction of clinical relevance in the teaching of biochemistry affects student attitudes.
1Thornton, T. (1997). "Attitudes towards the relevance of biological, behavioural and social sciences in nursing education." J Adv Nurs 26(1): 180-186.
2Harvey, T. J. and J. Vaughan (1990). "Student nurse attitudes towards different teaching/learning methods." Nurse Educ Today 10(3): 181-185.