Nursing Students’ Views on Psychiatric Nursing Course and Their Perceptions of Psychiatric Nursing: A Comparison of Traditional and Distance Learning Methods

Background: Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, universities in many countries worldwide have suddenly switched to the distance learning (DL) system. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychiatric nursing course was delivered in traditional learning (TL) in Türkiye; however, in 2020, emergency DL started for the psychiatric nursing course.

Aims: The aim of the study was to compare the evaluations of the efficacy of the psychiatric nursing course delivered through TL and DL by the students and their perceptions of psychiatric nursing.

Methods: This comparative descript,ve study was conducted at a university in Türkiye. The sample included 148 students: 84 in the TL group and 64 in the DL group. The data were collected using an online questionnaire form, the psychiatric nursing perception scale (PNPS), and the evaluation form of psychiatric nursing education (EFPNE). The data were analyzed with SPSS 23 package programs. Independent samples t-test, Pearson correlation test, and chi-square analysis were used in the statistical analysis, and the results were presented as numbers, means, standard deviation, and percentages. The distribution of the data was evaluated with the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test.

Results: The mean age of the TL groups was 22.09 ± 1.42, and 70.2% were female. About 67.8% of the TL students were satisfied with the psychiatric nursing course they took. The mean age of the DL groups was 23.17 ± 1.31, and 59.3% were female. In addition, 42.1% of the DL students were satisfied with the psychiatric nursing course they took. The TL students’ total EFPNE scale score was 61.48 ± 7.65 and the PNPS score was 71.02 ± 13.18. The DL students’ total EFPNE scale score was 51.17 ± 7.79 and the PNPS score was 61.29 ± 9.23. There was a statistically significant difference between the “evaluations of the efficacy of the psychiatry course” and “perceptions of psychiatric nursing” of the traditional and DL groups (P < 0.05). A positive and significant correlation was found between the PNPS total score and the EFPNE scores in the traditional groups (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Students in the traditional groups had positive opinions about the course and a high perception of psychiatric nursing. In this sense, it is recommended that the psychiatric nursing course, which is an applied course, should be given with the traditional education method after the COVID-19 pandemic.