Improving clinical decision-making and self-directed learning among Jordanian nursing students using concept mapping

Background: Conducting research studies to investigate the effectiveness of strategies that facilitate clinical decision-making and self-directed learning among nursing students is much needed. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using concept mapping to improve the clinical decision-making and self-directed learning among Jordanian nursing students. Design: This is a pretest, posttest experimental research study with two groups. Methods: This study was conducted at a public university in Jordan. A total of 111 nursing students were recruited and then randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups. The intervention group participants were invited to attend two workshops about concept mapping. Data were collected using a demographics questionnaire, the nurse decision-making instrument-revised (NDMI-R), and the self-directed learning instrument (SDLI). Results: Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results showed that there was a statistically significant effect of the intervention on the linear combination of the dependent variables V =.19, F (2, 101) =11.45, p < .001. The results of follow-up analyses showed that the mean difference of the NDMI-R scores was significant with the intervention group participants having a higher mean score than the control group. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the use of concept mapping can be an effective tool for nursing students to develop clinical decision-making skills and self-directed learning. (c) 2023 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.