Self-directed learning readiness and learning styles among Saudi undergraduate nursing students

Background: Self-directed learning has become a focus for nursing education in the past few decades due to the complexity and changes in nursing profession development. On the other hand, the Kolb's learning style could identify student's preference for perceiving and processing information. Objectives: This study was performed to determine Saudi nursing students' readiness for self-directed learning; to identify their learning styles and to find out the relation between these two concepts. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Settings: Nursing department of faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. Participants: Two hundred and seventy-five undergraduate Saudi nursing students. Methods: Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires covering the demographic features of students, Fisher's self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) scale, and the Kolb's learning styles inventory. Results: The mean scores of self-management, desire for learning, self-control and the overall SDLR were 513 +/- 5.9, 48.4 +/- 5.5, 59.9 +/- 6.7, and 159.6 +/- 13.8; respectively. About 77% (211) of students have high level of SDLR. The percentages of converger, diverger, assimilator and accommodator learning styles are 35.6%, 25.8%, 25.55% and 13.1%; respectively. The mean score of self,management, desire for learning, self-control and overall SDLR scale did not vary with any of the studied variables. There is no association between the level of SDLR and the learning styles. Conclusions: The high level of SDLR and the dominant converger learning style among undergraduate nursing students will have a positive implication for their education and post-employment continuing nursing education. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.