EFFECT OF A CLINICAL INTERNSHIP ON THE SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING READINESS OF BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS.
Contributors: University of Iowa.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 165
Subjects: Education, Adult and Continuing.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The knowledge needed for professional nurses continues to expand rapidly. Professional educators agree that students should learn the skills to assess their learning needs and be able to plan ways to meet these needs during their pre-professional education. This is called self-directed learning. Although it is accepted as a basic ingredient in professional education, little has been done to investigate various techniques which could be used to implement self-directed learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a clinical internship on the self-directed learning readiness of baccalaureate nursing students.

A quasi-experimental design was used. Two non-equivalent control groups were used to strengthen the design. The Experimental Group consisted of 67 senior baccalaureate nursing students from a state university. Control Group One consisted of 18 senior baccalaureate nursing students from a four year private liberal arts college without an internship. Control Group Two consisted of 9 RN completion students in the same state university, currently enrolled in the same course as the experimental group, who did not take the internship. Participation was voluntary and all students completed the study.

The research instrument was the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) constructed by Guglielmino (1977/1978). The SDLRS was a 58 item Likert type scale measuring individual perceptions of skills and attitudes associated with self-directedness in learning. A pretest, treatment, posttest design was utilized. Demographic data was collected with the posttest administration.

The experimental group showed statistically significant differences in pre and posttest SDLRS scores. However, analysis of covariance using age, grade point average, and pretest score as covariates, did not find significant differences among the three groups. The SDLRS scores were significantly related to grade point average and plans for advanced education in nursing, advanced clinical practice and nursing leadership. Students who felt they had a quality internship experience had significantly higher SDLRS scores. The internship was not shown to be of particular merit for improving self-directed learning skills, however the majority of the students were satisfied with the experience and considered it valuable.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-05, Section: A, page: 1036.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, 1987.

School code: 0096.