THE EFFECT OF CASE-BASED LEARNING METHODS ON SELF-CONFIDENCE AND ANXIETY OF PEDIATRIC NURSING STUDENTS IN CLINICAL DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Objective: Clinical decision making is an essential part of nursing process and patient care plan adopted by nurses as a problem solving approach. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of case-based learning methods on self-confidence and anxiety of the students in clinical decision-making process in pediatric nursing lecture. 
Materials and Methods: This study was designed as quasi-experimental with two groups. While the first group was a case-based learning group (n=38), the second group was designed as simulation group in addition to case-based learning (n=47). 
Results: There was a similarity between the groups in the mean age, gender, income level of the students, area of residence, perception of the profession, their ability to use theoretical knowledge in practice, self-confidence in clinical decision-making before the lecture, anxiety total score, and the mean subscale scores (p>0.05). It was identified that there was an increase in the post-test mean scores of self-confidence for each group, and a decrease in the mean anxiety scores (p0.05). 
Conclusion: Enriched teaching methods with active participation such as case-based learning and case-based learning/simulation was determined to be effective on boosting self-confidence and reducing anxiety of pediatric nursing students and it was suggested that more studies would be done on the topic.