Simulation Experience in Community Health Nursing: Postpartum Evaluation of the Mother and the Infant at Home Environment

Abstract

Background: This study aims to improve the skills of the undergraduate nursing students about data collection for postpartum evaluation of the mother and the infant at home environment by using simulation experience. Method: The study was conducted between February and May 2019. 63 third-year undergraduate students, who were enrolled to the department of nursing of a foundation university in Istanbul, constituted the sample of the study. First implementation stage of the study, which had one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, was conducted at the simulation center of the university by using a simulation-based scenario. Second implementation stage was conducted at the Family Health Centers, located in Ümraniye district of İstanbul province in Turkey. Data was collected by using “Family Diagnosis Performance Checklist for Home Visits (FDPC)” and “Students Satisfaction and Self-confidence in Learning Scale (SCLS)”. Results: We found a statistically significant difference between the self-confidence subscale of the SCLS after the simulation activity and the actual home visits ( p < 0.05). Comparison of the scores obtained from the satisfaction subscale of the SCLS after the simulation activity and the actual home visits reveals no statistically significant difference ( p > 0.05). Finally, we found a statistically significant difference between FDPC scores obtained from the simulation-based home visit scenario and the actual home visits ( p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that simulation-based learning in community health nursing improves self-confidence of nursing students and contributes to their skills on data collection and diagnosis during home visits.