The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate a nursing capstone course designed to cultivate creativity in RN-BSN students. The pre-post study design was used in a one-group of RN-BSN students who enrolled in a nursing capstone course. This pilot study was conducted under the auspices of NSC research grant 101-2511-S-242-002, IRB protocol number FYH-IRB-101-07-01-A. The nursing capstone project course lasted for 18 weeks was taught for 2 hr /week, and involved 6 mainstream methods, and 5 major assessment criteria. The 8 RN-BSN students' self-perceived abilities of creativity in this pilot study showed statistically significant improvement after completing the nursing capstone project course (p < .01), but their characteristics, abilities, and motivation for creativity were unaffected. However, the measured barriers to creativity among 8 RN-BSN students decreased substantially from the pre-to the post test (p < .05). Moreover, 9 RN-BSN students provided positive feedbacks about their learning experiences. Finally, the 9 RN-BSN students in the nursing capstone project course were developed two nursing products named as Anti-Needlestick Treasure Box and Comfortable Catheter Stickers, which have participated in the creative competition activities.
Key wordsCreativity, Courses, Nursing students
IntroducationBecause the Department of Education strongly encouraged creative education [1] , many technological colleges and universities in Taiwan have offered capstone creative courses that teach about innovative products to help students learn about applying for patents. Nursing professionals and medical institutions also urged nurses to play creative games and learn about innovative products and protocols to improve patients' comfort and satisfaction in the clinical settings [2,3] . The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate a nursing capstone course designed to cultivate creativity in nursing students. The author constructed the nursing capstone project course with approval from the department of nursing at the institution where this study was constructed.
Literature reviewThis review of literature was divided into three sections that present creative teaching strategies, evaluation of creativity, and the effect of teaching creativity on students' creativity. In general education, Instructors used diverse teaching www.sciedu.ca/jnep Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 7 ISSN 1925-4040 E-ISSN 1925 176 methods and strategies to cultivate students' creative thinking abilities [4] . Chen [5] proposed a creative teaching model named Asking, Thinking, Doing, and Evaluating (ATDE), which involved asking probing questions about the ways of listing, comparing, substituting, imaging, and constituting (A); offering the thinking space and time (T); writing, speaking, drawing, performing, and discussing (D); and self-evaluating (E). Shen [6] also introduced Creative Problem-Solving (CPS), which has three components, understanding problems, inspiring ideas, and preparing for a...