| Learning Objective #1: Understand the concepts of adaptive competency acquisition and its importance in nursing education | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Relate the outcomes of this longitudinal study to current nursing curriculum |
The purpose of this three year longitudinal study was to examine the differences in adaptive competency acquisition between sophomore level and senior level baccalaureate students in a university setting. Adaptive competencies are those outcome skills of nursing programs that are required to complete intuitive, inductive, problem-solving and people-oriented tasks.
Participants completed the Adaptive Competency Profile (ACP), a Likert-type self-assessment instrument based on the work of Kolb (1979) and Laschinger (1992), This instrument was administered at the beginning and end of the first clinical course (sophomore level), and at graduation.
Initial metrics included comparison of means in the ACP subscales and the t test for independent samples was utilized to test significance. Findings from this study indicated that there was no significant difference in adaptive competency acquisition as measured at the sophomore and senior levels. This outcome supports the necessity of strong foundational coursework in baccalaureate nursing education.