Attitudes of Students’ Studying in an Accredited Nursing Department towards Accreditation in Undergraduate Education

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to examine the attitudes of students’ studying in an accredited nursing department towards accreditation in undergraduate education. This cross - sectional study was conducted on the first, second, third and fourth grade n = 488 students studying in the Nursing Department of Trakya University Faculty of Health Sciences between November and December 2019. The research data were collected by the “Questionnaire Form erek which was prepared by the researchers. Descriptive statistics and chi-square were used in the evaluation of the data. The mean age of the students was 20.1 ± 1.5 and 82.2% were female. The study has found that 92.6% of the students heard accreditation, 84.0% of the students heard at the school or course, 81.4% knew accreditation, 91.4% of those who knew accreditation also knew that the nursing department is accredited. It has been also found that 96.9% of nursing students think that accreditation positively affect the image and quality of a department, 96.5% of them think that accreditation contribute to change the educational experience of students, 91.8% of them think that accreditation helps students’ communication and problem solving skills evaluation. While most nursing department students have heard and know accreditation, most of them have learned it at the school/ course. The accredited nursing department students think that the nursing department requires accreditation, and that accreditation has a positive effect on the image and quality of a department.