Nursing students at all levels may report lower math-related confidence and may find courses in statistics anxiety-provoking (Hagen, Awosoga, Kellett, & Damgaard, 2013; Kiekkas, 2015). This may be particularly true for graduate-level nursing students (Mathew & Aktan, 2014). Espousing a “growth mindset,” wherein one seeks out learning experiences, is resilient to educational obstacles, and uses feedback as a source of improvement, has been proposed as a means of approaching challenging content in health sciences education (Cooley & Larson, 2018; Williams, 2018). There is evidence to suggest that a course instructor may be able to encourage a growth mindset via pedagogy (Caning, Muenks, Green, & Murphy, 2019) and instructor talk (Seidel et al., 2015). The aim of this study is to use focus groups with doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) students who have completed a required statistics course to a) explore the extent to which DNP students espouse a growth mindset with respect to statistics b) and identify course-related factors that served as supports or barriers to a growth mindset.
Methods:
The study received approval through the IRB. Students were recruited via email using the class email list from a required statistics course in a Doctorate of Nursing Practice program. Two focus group sessions were offered with each session lasting approximately 60 minutes. During the session, participants were asked to first reflect and write responses in groups of 2-4 to a set of interview questions, then were invited to participate in group discussion about question responses. Student written responses were collected, and field notes from the sessions were transcribed. Written and transcribed data were then independently coded and analyzed to identify content themes. Investigators collaboratively determined final themes and supporting quotes.
Results:
N = 17 students participated in 2 focus group sessions. Although the prompts aimed to elicit content related to growth mindset, many students’ responses revealed the importance of other elements in the course. The following themes were identified:
- Role of instructor support in creating a sense of belonging
- Value of “small bites”, practice with feedback, and self-affirmation for developing self-efficacy
- Importance of relevant examples and instructor professional identity for developing task value
Conclusion:
Overall, participants found the course to be effective and useful for their professional development. Course strategies promoted constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, task value) that have been proposed as mediating academic engagement and achievement. Surprisingly, students did not have as much to say about growth mindset – perhaps because some may have possessed a growth mindset prior to the course, so the course may not have been as necessary or influential for growth mindset development. Future studies could identify which concepts related to learning are most likely to be threatened or restricted by challenging courses such as statistics as well as how nursing educators can best promote learning in these types of courses.