Influence of Gamification and Cooperative Work in Peer, Mixed and Interdisciplinary Teams on Emotional Intelligence, Learning Strategies and Life Goals That Motivate University Students to Study

Pedagogical strategies to improve emotional competencies in nursing students: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

To reveal the effectiveness of didactic architectures and pedagogical strategies to be implemented in nursing curricula to develop and improve Emotional Competencies (EC) in undergraduate nursing students.

DESIGN

Systematic review of effectiveness conducted according to Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines. We followed the PRISMA statement to guarantee the transparency of the review and the GRADE to report the strength of evidence.

DATA SOURCES

Seven databases were searched: MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO and ERIC. Grey literature was also searched through the OpenGrey database.

REVIEW METHODS

Studies focusing on educational programmes and/or activities to develop EC in nursing curricula, published in English or Italian were included. Quality assessment of the studies was evaluated using JBI critical evaluation tools and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MAAT). Following JBI guidelines, a narrative synthesis was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 19 studies from 8 countries were included. The population varied from first to fourth-year students in relation to the duration of the undergraduate nursing program across the various countries. Most of the students were females. The age of the participants ranged between18 and 56 years. The most common pedagogical strategies were simulation, role playing, and face-to-face lessons. In some cases, studies combined two or three pedagogical strategies in the same intervention. The most effective strategy was simulation, which improved EC, compassion, self-awareness, self-efficacy, empathy, critical thinking, clinical practice skills, and teamwork skills. Furthermore, the combination of lessons, simulation, and literature exploration effectively developed communication skills, and improved students' satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

Investing in simulation, role-playing activities, and lessons regarding the importance of EI, empathy and compassion, and the role of an emotionally competent nurse leads to improved nursing care and wellbeing.

Impact of Physical Activity and Bio-Psycho-Social Factors on Social Network Addiction and Gender Differences in Spanish Undergraduate Education Students

Social network use has increased in recent years. Social networks are fast-changing and may cause negative effects such as dependence and addiction. Hence, it was decided to establish two research aims: (1) to identify the social network used by university students and their use levels according to their sex and (2) to analyse how age, body mass index, physical activity, emotional intelligence and social network type affect addiction to social networks according to young people's sex. A cross-sectional study was designed involving Spanish university students from Education Degrees. The mean age of the participants was 20.84 years (±2.90). Females made up 69.8% of the sample and males 30.2%. An online questionnaire was administered that included sociodemographic questions, IPAQ-SF and TMMS-24. This study found that all students use WhatsApp and more than 97% have YouTube and Instagram accounts. The linear regression model obtained was as follows: social network addiction = 3.355 + 0.336*emotional attention - 0.263*emotional clarity. There is a positive relationship between social network addiction and emotional attention (r = 0.25; p < 0.001) and negative relationships between social network addiction and emotional clarity (r = -0.16; p = 0.002) and between social network addiction and age (r = -0.17; p = 0.001). University students report lower levels of social network addiction and slightly higher levels of social network addiction among females. In addition, there are significant differences between the average social network addiction scores of university students in terms of their use of Telegram, TikTok and Twitch.

Active learning methodology, associated to formative assessment, improved cardiac physiology knowledge and decreased pre-test stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety caused by assessments are often related to the student's insecurity regarding the knowledge to be evaluated, while teaching strategies that increase effective learning can assist in reducing it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that the use of an active methodology, associated to formative assessment, could reduce students' anxiety and stress, when compared to the traditional method, by promoting greater learning. New students enrolled in the same discipline of a Dentistry course were invited to participate in the study and were divided into two groups: traditional method and active methodology. The traditional method group received two lectures, delivered orally. The active methodology group received a lecture about cardiac cells and the autonomic control of cardiac function, with home study of the cardiac cycle using a textbook. In the second class, an individual formative assessment was applied. Afterwards, a group activity was performed with an educational game about the cardiac cycle, followed by a group formative assessment. After applying the traditional or active methodology, test 1 was carried out. Immediately before this test, saliva samples were collected for determination of the concentrations of the stress biomarkers cortisol and α-amylase. The students also answered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire, used for anxiety level determination. The score obtained in the test 1 was significantly higher for the active methodology group, compared to the traditional method group. No significant differences between the groups were observed for baseline cortisol and salivary α-amylase concentrations, or for anxiety scores. Before test 1, traditional method group presented higher concentrations of salivary cortisol and α-amylase, compared to the respective baseline values, while the active methodology group showed no difference between the baseline and test 1 levels. Before test 1, there were increases in anxiety levels, relative to the respective baseline values, regardless of the teaching methodology used, but this increase was greater for the traditional method group, compared to the active methodology group. These results showed that the active methodology, associated to formative assessment, decreased test stress and anxiety, with improved student performance in comparison to traditional lectures.