Implementing contract learning in a clinical context: report on a study

This paper reports on a study of the implementation and evaluation of learn ing contracts in a clinical context for a group of students who were in the ir third year of study in a pre-registration bachelor of nursing degree pro gramme in Hong Kong. A learning contract was implemented as a learning tool in the students' clinical placement in mental health nursing. An action re search approach was used in this study. Data were collected from questionna ires and interviews with students and clinical instructors. Results showed that students and clinical instructors generally agreed that there was an i ncrease in students' autonomy and motivation in learning with the use of a learning contract. It: also increased the sharing between students and clin ical instructors. The findings of the questionnaire and interviews supporte d each other. However, the lack of experience in using contract learning an d the Limited time in the clinical areas created difficulties for both stud ents and clinical instructors. Despite the limitations, contract learning i s considered beneficial to students' learning and has the potential to be u sed in clinical learning.