Nursing Students Reported More Positive Emotions about Training during COVID-19 After Using a Virtual Simulation...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Medical Simulation
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Virtual simulations (VS) emerged as crucial educational tools during the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing limitations of in-person learning.
• Despite VS supporting learning, their usability and students' emotions regarding VS remain under-researched.
• Emotions significantly influence the learning process, highlighting a gap in understanding student emotional responses to VS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the usability of virtual simulations (VS) as a distance learning tool for nursing students.
• To explore nursing students' emotions and their association with performance in a hybrid learning environment.
• To assess the effectiveness of VS as a supplement to traditional simulation methods.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative longitudinal study involving 18 undergraduate nursing students.
• Students participated in a hybrid learning model: virtual simulation (VS) followed by in-person simulation.
• Data collected included questionnaires on emotions, perceived success, usability, and VS performance scores.

Main Results:

• Nursing students reported significant emotional improvements regarding program completion post-simulation (VS + in-person).
• Emotions towards VS were predominantly positive, showing a weak-to-moderate strength.
• Positive emotions correlated with higher nursing student performance in VS; usability ratings were "okay" to "good".

Conclusions:

• Virtual simulations (VS) offer an emotionally positive, effective, and satisfying distance learning option.
• VS can successfully supplement traditional in-person simulations in nursing education.
• The findings support the integration of VS into hybrid learning models for enhanced student outcomes.