The effects of family nursing and family medicine clinical rotations on nursing and medical students' self-efficacy for health promotion counseling

The effects of community-based family nursing and medicine clinical rotatio ns on students' confidence in their knowledge and ability to counsel client s in selected health promotion areas were examined from the perspective of Bandura's (1986) self-efficacy theory. Nursing students (n=66) enrolled in a community family nursing course and medical students (n=71) enrolled in a 6-week family practice clerkship rotation completed questionnaires at thre e points: prior to, at completion of, and 3 months following their clinical rotations. Nursing and medical students' self-efficacy levels at pretest w ere similar. At-posttest, nursing students' self-efficacy was significantly higher than that of the medical students. This difference was sustained at 3 months follow up. Students' conception of health (clinical vs, nonclinic al) did not have an effect on posttest self-efficacy levels. Self-efficacy scores accounted for 63% of the variance in the nursing students' self-repo rted use of health promotion principles in their daily practice; but only 1 1% of the variance in medical students' daily practice. The results of this exploratory study provide information to guide theory-informed curricular decisions to design clinical learning activities that foster the developmen t of health promotion counseling skills in both nursing and medical student s.