THE ROLE OF NURSING TEXTBOOKS IN THE PROMOTION OF STUDENTS' ANALYTIC ABILITIES.
Contributors: Boston College.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 140
Subjects: Education, Curriculum and Instruction.
Description: This study described the structure of nursing textbooks in relation to eight criteria developed from Bloom's concept of analysis. These criteria served as a model to answer the question, "Do nursing textbooks contain the essential structures that could help students process textual information?" The sample consisted of five adult health nursing textbooks published between 1984 to 1987. Using content analysis, each textbook was systematically assessed for the frequency of occurrence of each criterion within sixteen content areas per textbook. The frequency counts were added to compute a total score for each textbook. Reliability of the content analysis yielded Pearson Product-Moment correlation coefficient estimates of $r$ =.87 for intercoder reliability and $r$ =.96 for intracoder reliability.

The study's major findings were: (1) use of illustrations and definitions of relevant terms were the only criteria well represented in the textbooks; (2) the other six criteria--use of objectives, advance organizers, scientific principles, questioning, summaries, and use of language, such as analogy, simile, and metaphor--were limited or severely limited in all of the textbooks; (3) illustrations, such as multidimensional tables and simple charts, increased by 15 percent in the later published textbooks with a corresponding decrease in the use of traditional prose format.

The textbooks were found to be more content then process oriented. They were written as comprehensive reference books rather than as ones serving in a dual role of providing information and facilitating information processing. The results of this study have implications for faculty teaching in adult health courses and for authors who are writing or revising textbooks. The results also provide the foundation for further research on nursing textbooks and improved learning from them. The model used in this study to identify textbook structures in nursing textbooks can be applied to textbooks from other disciplines as well. The assessment criteria may also prove beneficial in evaluating computer programs that are produced to stimulate higher level learning.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-11, Section: A, page: 3254.

Thesis (PH.D.)--BOSTON COLLEGE, 1988.

School code: 0016.