The Effect of Creative Drama Education on Nursing Students' Reflective Thinking and Clinical Decision-Making: A Mixed-Methods Study
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Reflective thinking and clinical decision-making are essential competencies for nursing students to deliver safe, evidence-based, and patient-centered care. Active learning approaches are increasingly recommended to improve these competencies during undergraduate nursing education. Creative drama is an experiential teaching method that promotes active participation, critical reflection, communication, empathy, collaboration, and problem-solving through role-playing, improvisation, and group interaction.
This randomized controlled mixed-methods study investigated whether creative drama education improves nursing students' reflective thinking and clinical decision-making compared with conventional case-based discussion. Undergraduate nursing students were randomly allocated to either an experimental group receiving structured creative drama education (n = 40) or a control group receiving case-based discussion sessions (n = 37). Reflective thinking and clinical decision-making were measured before and after the intervention. Subsequently, qualitative interviews were conducted with students in the experimental group to explore their experiences and explain the quantitative findings.
Study Type
Enrollment (Actual)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Locations
-
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Merkez
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Ağrı, Merkez, Turkey (Türkiye), 04100
- Agri Ibrahim Cecen University
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-
Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Undergraduate fourth-year nursing students enrolled in the nursing program.
- Aged 18 years or older.
- Able to communicate in Turkish.
- Available to attend all scheduled educational sessions.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Previous participation in formal creative drama training related to nursing education.
- Failure to attend one or more educational sessions.
- Withdrawal from the study at any stage.
- Incomplete completion of the study questionnaires (pre-test or post-test).
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Other
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: Triple
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Creative Drama-Based Training
Participants received structured creative drama education designed to improve reflective thinking and clinical decision-making through experiential learning, role-playing, improvisation, and group reflection.
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Participants in the experimental group received a structured creative drama education program designed to enhance reflective thinking and clinical decision-making skills.
The intervention consisted of interactive sessions incorporating warm-up activities, improvisation, role-playing, group enactment of realistic nursing scenarios, reflection, and group discussion.
Students actively explored clinical situations by assuming different roles, analyzing patient care problems, and reflecting on their experiences throughout the drama process.
The educational content was standardized and delivered by the same instructor using a predefined creative drama program.
|
|
Other: Case-Based Discussion
Participants received instructor-guided case discussion sessions covering the same educational objectives using conventional teaching methods.
|
Participants in the control group received conventional case-based discussion sessions covering the same learning objectives as the experimental group.
The sessions included instructor-guided analysis of written clinical cases, question-and-answer activities, and group discussions without the use of creative drama techniques or experiential role-play.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Reflective Thinking
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately after the intervention.
|
Change in reflective thinking scores measured from baseline to immediately after completion of the educational intervention using a validated reflective thinking scale.
|
Baseline and immediately after the intervention.
|
|
Clinical Decision-Making
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately after the intervention.
|
Change in clinical decision-making scores measured from baseline to immediately after completion of the educational intervention using a validated clinical decision-making scale.
|
Baseline and immediately after the intervention.
|
Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
Primary Completion (Actual)
Study Completion (Actual)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Actual)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Other Study ID Numbers
- AGRSABFTKS003
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
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