Learning evidence-based practice by writing the bachelor's thesis - A prospective cohort study in undergraduate nursing education

BACKGROUND

Evidence-based practice has been the desirable healthcare standard for decades. To ensure evidence-based healthcare in the future, nursing education curricula must include strategies for teaching evidence-based practice to nursing students. Learning outcomes about evidence-based practice might be incorporated into courses like the bachelor's thesis.

AIM

This study investigates whether writing a bachelor's thesis influences nursing students' practice, skills, and attitudes towards evidence-based practice, and explores whether there are differences between students writing the thesis as a literature study and students conducting empirical studies.

DESIGN

This Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study collects data on students' practice, skills, and attitudes towards evidence-based practice through the Student Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire and two questions from the Norwegian version of the Evidence-Based Practice profile questionnaire.

PARTICIPANTS

The sample consists of 314 nursing students writing their bachelor's thesis in the last term of their nursing education. The responding students represent all institutions of higher education in Norway.

METHODS

Paired t-tests were used to examine changes in the subscales practice, retrieving/reviewing, sharing/applying, attitudes and total scale for the Student Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire from before they started to submission of the bachelor's thesis. Linear multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore differences between students writing a literature study and students conducting empirical studies.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that the nursing students significantly increased in the three subscales practice, retrieving/reviewing, and sharing/applying, in addition to the total scale for the questionnaire, while writing the bachelor's thesis. Further, the analysis showed no difference on the scales between the groups of students writing a literature study or conducting an empirical study.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that writing the bachelor's thesis leads to increased learning about evidence-based practice and does not depend on the kind of thesis the students write.

Nursing students' expectations of the process of writing a bachelor's thesis in Sweden: A qualitative study

While performing various academic work, such as writing a bachelor's thesis, are known to be challenging for university students, less is known about students' expectations in this regard.

AIM

The aim was to describe students' expectations of the upcoming process of writing a bachelor's thesis.

DESIGN

The study employed an explorative, qualitative approach with a single, written open-ended question design.

METHODS

The data were collected consecutively 2013-2016 in class. A total of 93 final-year students volunteered and provided hand-written accounts which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

The students' accounts revealed three generic categories of expectations: Gaining professional knowledge and competency, Planning and organizing the work, and Taking stock of personal resources. Writing a bachelor's thesis was a new challenge for most of the students and the answers testify to mixed feelings about the upcoming work and its supervision.

CONCLUSIONS

The nursing students' expectations included present and future competencies, skills and abilities. In promoting development of transferable skills and knowledge, educators of future health-care professionals would be well advised to invite students to reflect on and discuss, their expectations prior to writing a bachelor's thesis and similar academic student papers. This study adds to the research on students' studying and learning in nursing education by bringing to the fore students' expectations of academic learning tasks as an important aspect to consider in higher education contexts, both nationally and internationally.