Hardiness and Anxiety as Predictors of Academic Success in First-Year, Full-Time and Part-Time RN Students

Program Evaluation in Graduate Nursing Education: Hardiness as a Predictor of Success Among Nursing Administration Students

In an effort to develop meaningful program evaluation data, this exploratory study examined hardiness and stress among a select group of graduate nursing administration students at The University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, TX. Students completed a questionnaire, which included the Hardiness Scale and Perceived Stress Scale, at both beginning and end of their program. Six to 12 months after graduation, each participant completed a telephone survey with items related to hardiness and American Association of Colleges of Nursing and American Organization of Nurse Executives core competencies. Mean scores for both hardiness and stress did improve from beginning to end of program; however, alpha coefficient reliabilities were disappointing, so no further quantitative analyses were completed. Most enlightening were the telephone interviews, which revealed that graduates were engaged in behaviors indicative of high hardiness. Use of hardiness as a guiding construct may prove useful to nursing administration program faculty in developing and refining a quality program; use of both quantitative and qualitative methods are recommended for obtaining meaningful program evaluation data.

The Effect of Classroom Simulation on Nursing Students' Self-Efficacy Related to Health Teaching

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the effect of classroom simulation on third-year baccalaureate nursing students' self-efficacy in health teaching. Bandura's self-efficacy model provided the conceptual framework. A nonprobability, convenience sample of 22 students completed the self-efficacy questionnaire before and after the simulation workshop sessions. Students' overall self-efficacy scores increased significantly (p = 0.001) following the two sessions of role-playing case studies, suggesting more perceived confidence in performing health teaching. Recommendations include continuing the use of simulation as a teaching-learning method, applying simulation as a strategy to enhance other learner behaviors, and cultivating faculty's use of simulation in their teaching.

New graduate perception of clinical competence: testing a causal model

The purpose of this study was to test relationships among variables hypothesized to affect new graduate perceptions of clinical competence. The proposed model was developed based on several theories in sociology, education and nursing. Seven variables were selected for their potential contributions to graduates' perceptions of clinical competence. The sample included 468 new graduates from six baccalaureate nursing programs in Thailand. Path analysis indicated that student effort, perception of clinical learning environment (CLE) and program grade point average had direct effects on perception of clinical competence whereas hardiness had an indirect effect on the outcome variables through its impacts on student effort, perception of CLE and perception of student-faculty relationship. The model explained 8-12% of variance in the subscales of clinical competence.