Effect of a formative assessment intervention on nursing skills laboratory learning in a resource-constrained country

Following a global trend, nursing education institutions in Malawi adopted the skills laboratory approach for the teaching and learning of essential nursing skills in the bachelor degree in nursing. Students and faculty expressed concern about the lack of regular and planned formative assessments that build the competencies required in the middle and senior years of study.

The aim was to investigate the effect of a Formative Assessment Framework (FAF) on students learning in skills laboratories.

A sequential, mixed methods design was chosen, starting with qualitative approach followed by a quantitative approach using a quasi-experimental design. Formative Assessment Framework (FAF) was developed after phase 1, validated and tested on the teaching of eight nursing procedures in phase 2. Quantitative data were collected from students (n = 160) for 6 weeks. Data were analysed using STATA software packages.

Significant mean differences occurred between the pretest and posttest mean scores for seven procedures with a p-value of <0.05.

The use of a Formative Assessment Framework had a significant effect on clinical teaching and learning. The findings indicate that the FAF has the capacity to improve the students' clinical preparation for competencies in the OSCE, which takes place in the skills laboratories.