Leveraging AI-Powered Interview Simulations to Enhance Employability and Reduce Anxiety in Final-Year Nursing and Midwifery Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Trial ID: NCT07061132
Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Phase: NA
Start date: 2025-05-08
Completion date: 2025-08-30
Sponsor: Koç University
Conditions: Employment Anxiety; Perceived Employability; Educational Technology; Artificial Intelligence (AI); Nursing Education Research; Midwifery Education; Simulation Training
Interventions: AI-Based Interview Simulation
Locations: Koç University School of Nursing
Countries: Turkey (Türkiye)
Enrollment: 90
Age range: 18 Years - None
Sex: ALL

Summary:
This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a ChatGPT-based job interview simulation on the employment perceptions and interview-related anxiety of senior nursing and midwifery students. Transitioning from education to professional practice in healthcare is a critical phase that directly influences employability and career readiness. Particularly for nursing and midwifery students, the ability to navigate job interviews with confidence plays a pivotal role in shaping their future career paths. As such, innovative and digital interventions are needed to better prepare students for this process.

Grounded in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the study explores how AI-driven simulations affect students' self-efficacy, perceived utility, and usability, and ultimately their career-related outlook. The intervention involves a structured, text-based job interview simulation powered by ChatGPT-4o, during which students respond to a series of nine professionally tailored questions. These questions are aligned with international competency frameworks such as those from ICN (2008) and ICM (2024), focusing on themes like professionalism, teamwork, evidence-based care, communication, and leadership. At the end of the simulation, the chatbot provides brief, constructive feedback to the participant.

A total of 102 final-year students from Koç University and Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa will be recruited using stratified randomization. Participants will be assigned to either an intervention group, which will complete the ChatGPT simulation, or a control group, which will not receive any interview intervention but will complete the same pre- and post-test questionnaires. Key outcome measures include the Perceived Future Employability Scale (PFE), the Interview Anxiety Scale (MASI-T), and a simulation experience form for the intervention group. Quantitative data will be analyzed using SPSS with appropriate parametric and non-parametric tests based on data distribution, and an intention-to-treat (ITT) approach will be adopted.

To ensure the integrity of the experiment, blinding procedures, strict confidentiality, and group separation protocols will be applied. The simulation will be conducted individually on research-owned devices in private rooms, and no personal or textual data will be saved from the AI interactions. Ethical approval has been obtained from Koç University Social and Behavioral Ethics Committee. Participation is voluntary, informed consent will be collected, and all processes will comply with the Helsinki Declaration and Turkish Personal Data Protection Law.

Ultimately, this study seeks to offer evidence on the pedagogical utility of AI-based simulation tools in preparing healthcare students for employment, while also contributing to the broader field of digital transformation in health education.

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

Must be 18 years of age or older

Must be a senior-year student enrolled in a nursing or midwifery program

Must voluntarily agree to participate in the study

Must provide written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Unable to participate in the intervention or assessments due to extended absence or medical leave

Fails to complete either the pre-test or post-test assessments

Previous participation in the pilot phase of the study

Prior exposure to the ChatGPT-based interview simulation used in this study

Outcomes:
Change in Perceived Future Employability Score; Change in Interview Anxiety Score