Start With What They Know: Student Perceptions of Self-Efficacy in Community Health Nursing

Constructivist learning theory states that learners integrate or build upon prior knowledge including formal and informal learning experiences. Related to Constructivist Learning Theory is Bandura (1977) Self-Efficacy Theory which describes learners’ confidence in their ability to successfully perform in a role is related to knowledge acquired from prior learning. This pilot study seeks to develop insight into evaluating how students perceive and justify their ability to perform in specific community health nursing roles before a senior level community health nursing course and after the course in a baccalaureate nursing program of study. Prior to beginning the course students complete a pre-course survey instrument. For the pre-course instrument students base responses on prior knowledge. This prior knowledge includes formal education in arts and sciences, nursing courses prior to their senior year, as well as life experiences. The survey instrument was developed by experienced community health nurses using roles a first-year nurse might realistically encounter. The instrument has ten items, five pairings of Likert scale and short answer questions. Pre and post course surveys were collected over a calendar year from students in a baccalaureate community health nursing course. For the post-course survey, responses include all prior knowledge in addition to the course specific learning. Course specific learning and concurrent nursing course learning includes both didactic and experiential learning opportunities. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis will be conducted on the data which has been archived from the 2016 calendar year in aggregate form. This pilot study seeks to describe how well the instrument measures the change in students’ perception of self-efficacy in selected community health nursing roles before and after the course. The study also seeks to identify what prior and new knowledge students reference as the justification for their perceived self-efficacy. Based on conclusions supported by the data analysis, revisions to the instrument as well as the course will be considered.