Selection of nursing teaching strategies in mainland China: A questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND:In nursing education, the traditional lecture and direct demonstration teaching method cannot cultivate the various skills that nursing students need. How to choose a more scientific and rational teaching method is a common concern for nursing educators worldwide. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the basis for selecting teaching methods among nursing teachers in mainland China, the factors affecting the selection of different teaching methods, and the application of different teaching methods in theoretical and skill-based nursing courses. DESIGN:Questionnaire survey. SETTINGS:Seventy one nursing colleges from 28 provincial-level administrative regions in mainland China. PARTICIPANTS:Following the principle of voluntary informed consent, 262 nursing teachers were randomly selected through a nursing education network platform and a conference platform. METHODS:The questionnaire contents included the basis for and the factors influencing the selection of nursing teaching methods, the participants' common teaching methods, and the teaching experience of the surveyed nursing teachers. The questionnaires were distributed through the network or conference platform, and the data were analyzed by SPSS 17.0 software. RESULTS:The surveyed nursing teachers selected teaching methods mainly based on the characteristics of the teaching content, the characteristics of the students, and their previous teaching experiences. The factors affecting the selection of teaching methods mainly included large class sizes, limited class time, and limited examination formats. The surveyed nursing teachers primarily used lectures to teach theory courses and the direct demonstration method to teach skills courses, and the application frequencies of these two teaching methods were significantly higher than those of other teaching methods (P=0.000). CONCLUSION:More attention should be paid to the selection of nursing teaching methods. Every teacher should strategically choose teaching methods before each lesson, and nursing education training focused on selecting effective teaching methods should be more extensive.