Vicarious learning and communication self-efficacy: A pediatric end-of-life simulation for pre-licensure nursing students

BACKGROUND

End-of-life clinical experiences, particularly in pediatrics, are quite limited for pre-licensure nursing students. Though effective, end-of-life simulations can be costly, require facilitators trained in palliative and end-of-life care, and are restricted by limited space and time availability. Such barriers prompt the question as to whether there is an effective alternative to simulation by which students can gain improved self-efficacy in therapeutic communication during pediatric end-of-life situations.

PURPOSE

Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and work exploring self-efficacy posits that vicarious learning provides learners opportunities to gain experience and knowledge through observation of peers in simulated settings. This study evaluated the effectiveness of vicarious versus active learning on pre-licensure nursing students' perceived self-efficacy in providing therapeutic communication during a pediatric end-of-life situation.

METHOD

Data were collected over three time points - pre-simulation, post-simulation, and post-debriefing - using a modified Self-Efficacy in Communication Scale.

RESULTS

Learners in both groups had significant improvement in self-efficacy across all time points. Only two items had significant differences between vicarious and active learner groups, but the effect was minor.

CONCLUSION

Vicarious learning presents as a viable pedagogical approach for providing pre-licensure nursing students important learning opportunities related to pediatric end-of-life simulations during both the scenario and debriefing.

Analysis of Literary Situation and Reconstruction of the Writing Subject in Literary Education by Educational Psychology

Educational psychology focuses on the laws of change in the knowledge, skills, and individual psychology of the educatees in the process of education and teaching. Writing teaching is a key and difficult point in literature teaching. Nowadays, it is common for students to be afraid and tired of writing in school literature education. In view of these problems, the present work optimizes the teaching mode of writing from the perspective of reconstructing the writing subject. Through literature research and interdisciplinary analysis, a questionnaire is designed to analyze the literary situation and the reconstruction of writing subjects in literary education. The questionnaire is aimed at three aspects, namely the hidden educational effect of teachers' personality charm, the influencing factors of students' psychology and students' learning effect, and the influencing factors of psychology of the communication between teachers and students and teachers' teaching effect. Then, the changes of students' performance in literary class in these three aspects before and after using the teaching strategy of writing subject reconstruction are analyzed. Finally, the changes of students' grades in the literary course are investigated. In this experiment, a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed, and a total of 389 questionnaires were collected. The survey results show that the number of students who feel the classroom atmosphere is active increases by 10%, the number of students who listen carefully and take notes increases by 7%, and 45% of students have improved their grades. Besides, after the implementation of the teaching strategy, most students change their attitude to the literature course, become more active, and significantly improve their motivation for learning. This study has a certain reference value for the analysis of literary situations and the reconstruction of writing subjects in literary education from the perspective of educational psychology.

Development of a New Measure to Assess Primary Palliative Care Perceived Competence

BACKGROUND

Many nursing schools have begun to address the gap in palliative care education. Recently released entry-to-practice competencies in palliative care can guide educators as they incorporate such material into their curriculum. In an effort to evaluate learning, educators need a reliable instrument that aligns with the updated competencies.

PURPOSE

This article describes the development of a new instrument to evaluate perceived competence to provide primary palliative care.

METHODS

The psychometric properties and performance of the new instrument in evaluating perceived competence were tested via an interprofessional palliative care simulation with medical, nursing, and social work students. Perceived competence was measured before and after the simulation.

RESULTS

The new instrument demonstrates strong reliability and validity, represents a unidimensional construct, and captures changes in perceived competence across time and disciplines.

CONCLUSIONS

The new instrument is acceptable for assessing perceived competence to provide palliative care, particularly for nursing students.