Evaluation of an Athletics Model to Develop Values for Professional Practice

Purpose

        The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has identified values and ethics as a competency for interprofessional collaborative practice and the education of baccalaureate nursing students.  Yet the abstract nature of values and the lack of emphasis and example in modern culture make professionalism education in nursing very challenging.  Students must learn to demonstrate values that are essential for effective coordination of care, improved patient outcomes, and for continued representation as the nation’s most trusted profession.  This research study, currently in progress, describes an innovative athletics-inspired approach to the professional values development of baccalaureate nursing students through a combination of team-based learning and behavior modeling techniques.  This strategy has been in practice for four years at the University of Cincinnati with positive preliminary evaluation data but requires a more sufficient measure of the effectiveness of this educational approach.   This study seeks to determine if an athletics model approach to professional values education in nursing affects the development of professional values in the baccalaureate nursing student as measured by the Healthcare Selection Inventory tool and to evaluate student satisfaction with this professional values education approach.  This study will contribute further to knowledge regarding the effectiveness of teaching strategies for professional values development and lays the foundation for future research describing the long term effects of professional values education upon the post-graduate baccalaureate student in terms of performance, healthcare team collaboration, retention, and transition to practice.

Methods

While preliminary evaluations of student and faculty perceptions of the PVPN have been positive, they do not provide a sufficient measure of the effectiveness of this approach to professional values education.  A tool designed to measure individually held values and associated behaviors is needed to measure outcomes of the program. The Healthcare Selection Inventory (HealthcareSource, 2012) is a behavioral-based survey tool designed to identify values that healthcare organizations have deemed critical to successful job performance and patient care.  The Healthcare Selection Inventory uses a nursing norms scale addressing a series of values (work ethic, energy, teamwork, patient focus, compassion, adaptability, multi-tasking, valuing diversity, openness to learning) closely aligned with the goal values of the PVPN.  The Healthcare Selection Inventory has been designed to tap into the set of Big Five personality constructs, which have been shown to be related to job performance. The Big Five personality dimensions provide a solid framework for testing hypotheses relating personality to job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Hurtz & Donovan, 2000).  HealthcareSource also utilizes a framework based on critical values and nursing competencies identified by healthcare organizations for assessing job performance one year post-hire.  Such an assessment would lend itself to future research related to the long term effects of professional values education upon graduate nurse behavior and performance of patient care. 

This study will employ a pre-post test design.  The Healthcare Selection Inventory tool was administered to participating incoming sophomore nursing students at the start of the fall semester of 2013 prior to introduction to the PVPN intervention.  The PVPN is implemented with all nursing students on a voluntary participation basis as has been the custom.  The Healthcare Selection Inventory tool will then be administered at the end of the sophomore year, following spring semester 2014 and again at the end of the junior year following spring semester 2015. 

Results

Preliminary Data:

Prior to implementation of the research study, preliminary outcomes data were obtained following determination by the University of Cincinnati Institutional Review Board that this educational strategy and evaluation did not constitute human subject research.  An investigator-developed evaluation tool was administered to the sophomore students following one full academic year of exposure to the Professional Values Program for Nursing. Forty-four students responded for a response rate of 92%.  The survey consisted of five Likert scale questions.  Content validity of the tool was established by having three faculty and content experts evaluate the survey.  The items were determined to be both clear and relevant with all items but one scoring very clear and very relevant.  One item, This program increased my potential for success in the College of Nursing, was determined to be somewhat relevant. 

The majority of students (84 to 88 percent) agreed or strongly agreed that the program improved their understanding of the expectations of the college of nursing related to professional behaviors, enabled them to better recognize professional behavior in themselves and others, and improved their ability to work as a team.   Eighty percent of students agreed or strongly agreed that the program increased their potential for success in the college of nursing or could help them succeed in the workplace following graduation.

Five faculty and educational staff members were administered a five point Likert scale tool for program evaluation following two terms of experience with classes at the sophomore level.  Faculty and staff identified improved ability to work as a team and improved potential for success in the BSN program as the two greatest strengths of the PVPN followed by increased student engagement, professional communication, and improved compliance with professional behaviors.  The Professional Values Program for Nursing was offered to students as a voluntary experience, with no effect upon course grade, yet one hundred percent participation was elicited.  There have now been seven academic terms of experience with the PVPN program with a total of 155 sophomore and junior level students participating. 

Conclusion

Preliminary outcomes related to this program have been positive.  The initial round of pre-intervention data has been collected from the first cohort with post-intervention data and results anticipated in April of 2015.  This study seeks to utilize the Healthcare Selection Inventory, a behavioral-based survey tool, to examine values and associated behaviors necessary to measure program outcomes.  This study will contribute further to knowledge regarding the effectiveness of teaching strategies for professional values development and lays the foundation for future research describing the long term effects of professional values education upon the post-graduate baccalaureate student in terms of performance, healthcare team collaboration, retention, and transition to practice.