The Use of Social Cognitive Theory in Nursing Graduate Theses in Turkey: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to evaluate the postgraduate nursing theses made using Social Cognitive Theory (SBT) in Turkey.
METHODS: This descriptive study based on the literature was carried out using master’s and Ph.D. theses in nursing. In July 2019, 51 theses were accessed by selecting the field of medicine from the detailed search bar of the database of the National Thesis Center and typing the search terms: social cognitive, social learning, social cognitive learning, model, hypothesis and theory. The titles and abstracts of these theses were analyzed using purposeful sampling. Number and percentage calculation, which are among the descriptive statistics, were used in the evaluation of the data.
RESULTS: A total of 15 SCT-based nursing theses between the years of 2003 and 2015 were used. Of them, 14 of the theses are doctorate and one is a master’s thesis. With six studies, it was determined that SBT was used mostly in the department of public health nursing. Of the studies, 40% was experimental, and 53.3% was quasi-experimental. It was determined that students constituted the sample in more than half of the studies (64.2%) and that the implemented programs were effective. Of the theses, seven used the primary sources where Bandura explains his theory, and three used SCT and provided similar results. Of the remainder, three formed the conceptual-theoretical-empirical structure and were conducted accordingly, and four were associated SCT concepts with their results and discussed them.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It can be said that the rate of SCT use in nursing theses in Turkey is low compared to the international literature. SCT should be used in nursing practices and research due to the positive effects of several nursing programs that use it.