Assessing acceptance of augmented reality in nursing education

The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected every aspect of human life. In these challenging times nursing students, facing academic and psychological issues, are advised to use augmented reality applications in the field of health sciences for increasing their motivations and academic performances. The main motive of the study was to examine the acceptance status of nursing students in implementing augmented reality technology in their education and training. The study is a quantitative research study, and it uses the causal-comparative screening method. The data used in the study was collected online from 419 nursing students. The hybrid method was preferred. First, the hypotheses based on the linear relationships were defined between the variables which were then tested by the method of structural equation modeling. Second, the method of artificial neural networks was used to determine the non-linear relationships between the variables. The results show that the nursing students have a high intention of using augmented reality technology as a way of self-learning. It was also found that the most emphasized motive behind this intention is the expectation that using augmented reality technology will increase their academic performance. They also think that AR technology has many potential benefits to offer in the future. It was observed that a considerable number of students already use augmented reality technology for its usefulness and with a hedonic motivation. In conclusion, nursing students have a high acceptance of using augmented reality technology during their education and training process. Since we live in a world where e-learning and self-learning education/training have become widespread, it is estimated that students will demand augmented reality applications as a part of holistic education, and as an alternative to traditional textbooks.