Document Type : Original Article
Abstract
Introduction: Following the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic and the importance of using new educational strategies in learning activities, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of teaching mental health nursing courses in a virtual and hybrid way on nursing students' learning.
Materials and methods: An experimental study was conducted as a post-test on the fourth-semester nursing students in two subject groups (combined and virtual online through the Adobe Connect platform) at the end of the mental health course, with the assessment of the corresponding course grade. Randomization was done by the block method. The data collection tool was a demographic and background profile questionnaire. Data analysis was analyzed with SPSS-19 software with one-way blinding (analyzer) in two stages. In all analyses, a significance level of less than 0.05 was considered.
Findings: In general, no significant difference was observed between the two groups of participants of virtual training and combined training in terms of contextual variables and overall grade point average. The mean and standard deviation of the student's scores from the mental health nursing course in the combined and virtual learning groups are 14.03 ± 3.22 and 14.05 ± 1.54, respectively. The univariate analysis showed that the student's grades from the mental health nursing course showed a significant relationship with the overall grade point average (in the combined education group) and the level of satisfaction with the instructor (in the online education group). In the multivariate analysis, the only factor affecting the students' grades from this course was the student's overall grade point average. It has been from past semesters.
Conclusion: Combined education in mental health nursing education has the same effect on students' learning. The combined education approach can be a powerful tool to supplement traditional education.