Effectiveness of Serious Games on Nursing Students' Clinical Reasoning

September 1, 2026 updated by: Do Thi Kim Chi

The Effectiveness of Serious Games in Improving Nursing Students' Clinical Reasoning in Vietnam

This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of serious game-based learning compared with conventional learning in improving clinical reasoning among nursing students in Vietnam. Additionally, the study will assess students' self-confidence in pediatric nursing care, intrinsic motivation, and satisfaction with the learning experience. A minimum of 104 second-year nursing students will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group (serious game-based learning) or the control group (conventional learning). Both groups will receive six teaching sessions based on the content of the Pediatric Care Nursing curriculum, conducted outside the formal curriculum, with each session lasting approximately three hours. Outcomes will be measured at multiple time points, while learning satisfaction will be assessed immediately after completion of the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

104

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Vietnam
      • Hà Nội, Vietnam
        • Bach Mai Medical college, Bach Mai hospital
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Thi Kim Chi Do

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Second-year undergraduate nursing students.
  • Students who have not previously taken the Pediatric Care Nursing course

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Students who do not agree to participate in the study.
  • Students who are repeating the Pediatric Care Nursing course.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: intervention Group
Participants assigned to this group will receive serious game-based learning based on the content of the Pediatric Care Nursing course. The intervention will be delivered over six teaching sessions conducted outside the formal curriculum, with each session lasting approximately three hours.
Behavioral: Serious game - based learning
Participants in the intervention group will receive six weekly serious game-based learning sessions. Each 3-hour session will include a lecture, serious game play, group presentation, discussion, and reflection.
Active Comparator: Control Group
Participants assigned to this group will receive conventional learning based on the same Pediatric Care Nursing course content over six teaching sessions conducted outside the formal curriculum, with each session lasting approximately three hours.
Behavioral: Conventional teaching
Participants in the control group will receive traditional teaching covering the same topics as the intervention group. The intervention will be delivered in one 3-hour session per week for up to 6 weeks. Each session will consist primarily of instructor-led lectures using presentation slides. Clinical scenarios will be presented by the instructor through lecture slides without small-group discussion. Question-and-answer activities will be conducted after the lecture.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical reasoning
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow up at one-month post intervention.
This study will use the Vietnamese version of the 16-item Clinical Reasoning Scale (CRS) to measure nursing students' clinical reasoning ability. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale. Total scores range from 16 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater clinical reasoning ability.
Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow up at one-month post intervention.
clinical reasoning
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow-up at one-month post-intervention.
This study will use the Clinical Reasoning Performance Rubric (CRPR) to provide an objective assessment of nursing students' clinical reasoning. The rubric consists of eight domains, each rated from 0 to 3. Total scores range from 0 to 24, with higher scores indicating better clinical reasoning.
Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow-up at one-month post-intervention.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Confidence
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow-up at one-month post-intervention.
This study will use the Vietnamese version of the five-item Confidence Scale (C-Scale), adapted for pediatric nursing care, to measure nursing students' confidence in pediatric nursing care. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. Total scores range from 5 to 25, with higher scores indicating greater confidence in pediatric nursing care.
Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow-up at one-month post-intervention.
motivation
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow-up at one-month post-intervention.
This study will use four items from the Enjoyment subscale of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) to measure nursing students' intrinsic motivation. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale. Total scores range from 4 to 20, with higher scores indicating greater intrinsic motivation.
Baseline, immediately after intervention, and follow-up at one-month post-intervention.
Student Satisfaction
Time Frame: Immediately after intervention
This study will use the 12-item Student Satisfaction Questionnaire to assess nursing students' satisfaction with the assigned learning methods. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale . Total scores range from 12 to 60, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction with the learning methods.
Immediately after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Do Thi Kim Chi

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thi Kim Chi Do, Taipei Medical University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

September 20, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 15, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 1, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 1, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 8, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 8, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 1, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 670/BM-HĐĐĐ

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

There is no plan to share individual participant data from this study.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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