Iranian Clinical Nurses’ Activities for Self-Directed Learning: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background:Clinical nurses need lifelong learning skills for responding to the rapid changes of clinical settings. One of the best strategies for lifelong learning is self-directed learning. The aim of this study was to explore Iranian clinical nurses’ activities for self-directed learning.Methods:In this qualitative study, 23 semi-structured personal interviews were conducted with nineteen clinical nurses working in all four hospitals affiliated to Isfahan Social Security Organization, Isfahan, Iran. Study data were analyzed by using the content analysis approach. The study was conducted from June 2013 to October 2014.Findings:Study participants’ activities for self-directed learning fell into two main categories of striving for knowledge acquisition and striving for skill development. The main theme of the study was ‘Revising personal performance based on intellectual-experiential activities’.Conclusions:Study findings suggest that Iranian clinical nurses continually revise their personal performance by performing self-directed intellectual and experiential activities to acquire expertise. The process of acquiring expertise is a linear process which includes two key steps of knowledge acquisition and knowledge development. In order to acquire and advance their knowledge, nurses perform mental learning activities such as sensory perception, self-evaluation, and suspended judgment step-by-step. Moreover, they develop their skills through doing activities like apprenticeship, masterly performance, and self-regulation. The absolute prerequisite to expertise acquisition is that a nurse needs to follow these two steps in a sequential manner.

Comparison of the Effect of Lecture and Self-Centered Learning on the Creativity of Nursing Students

“…This study was titled " Self-directed learning to enhance active learning among the 2 nd -year undergraduate medical students in Microbiology: An experimental study" and performed on 96 medical students 24 . In a previous qualitative study in 2016 on nineteen clinical nurses working, with titled" iranian Clinical Nurses' Activities for Self-Directed Learning: A Qualitative Study their findings revealed that nurses' activity for Self-centered Learning was sensory perception, selfevaluation, and suspended judgment they are included, active listening during care provision and ward rounds, careful observation of patients, colleagues, and physicians' behaviors, active listening, history taking, and participating in nursing and medical rounds 25 . Female students showed higher creativity scores than boys in the self-centered group(p<0/007).The results of our study were similar to those of Abraham et al 26 .…”

Effectiveness of Self-directed Learning on Competency in Physical Assessment, Academic Self-confidence and Learning Satisfaction of Nursing Students

“…By teaching and practicing physical assessment skills within adult learning theory, as part of the nursing process, and also by allowing students the opportunity to apply these skills and their selective application in practice, graduates will be able to offer a more comprehensive health assessment when planning and monitoring patient health care [7]. Although attempts using various teaching methods have been applied by faculty in different settings and many studies evaluating the effectiveness of SDL [13], few studies have investigated the use of SDL within the physical assessment course, particularly in nursing undergraduate curricula in Korea [14,15]. Developing competence in SDL goes beyond simply acquiring a set of skills that allow the learner to solve problems [16].…”