THE EFFECT OF A CLINICAL PRACTICUM ON UNDERGRADUATE NURSING-STUDENTS SELF-EFFICACY FOR COMMUNITY-BASED FAMILY NURSING PRACTICE

Providing family nursing care using a collaborative practice model pre sents a challenge to undergraduate students and to faculty who structu re their learning experiences. A pre-test-post-test design was used to assess the impact of a 13-week family nursing clinical practicum on t he perceived self-efficacy of two groups of nursing students in three areas: knowledge related to family nursing, home visiting, and collabo rative practice. Students completed the Family Nursing Self-Efficacy Q uestionnaire (FNSE) at the beginning of the academic year and 4 and 8 months later to coincide with the timing of the practicum for each gro up (fall or winter term). A two-factor repeated measures analysis of v ariance (ANOVA) revealed a significant group X time effect (lambda=.80 , p<.001). Students' self-efficacy differed significantly by group at time 2 only (t=4.3, p<.001), supporting the positive effects of the cl inical practicum on students' self-efficacy. Consistent with Bandura's (1977, 1986) theory, students rated actual performance of family nurs ing skills in a clinical setting as the most important source of effic acy information. Implications for designing meaningful clinical experi ences in family nursing are discussed.