Effectiveness of Psycho-educational Program on Perception and Obstacles regarding Electronic learning among Nursing Students

Abstract

Background: Electronic learning (e-learning) nowadays has become a necessity for organizations to support their learning activities and integrating e-learning into learning and teaching may be a tough process with several hurdles. Psycho-educational program is necessary for nursing students to improve their perception and overcome obstacles regarding electronic learning thus improving their learning experience. Objective: The study targets to evaluate the effectiveness of psycho-educational program on perception and obstacles regarding electronic learning among nursing students. Design: This study used quasi-experimental design, pretest-posttests; students were 341 chosen randomly from four academic years, at Assiut University's Faculty of Nursing, during the 2021/2022 academic year. Methods: Students chosen randomly and given the psycho-educational program. Data were collected via student perceptions of electronic learning questionnaire and obstacles to electronic learning questionnaire before and after the program intervension. Results: This study showed an improvement in positive perception as the percentage was (90.3%) compared to (56.9%) before implementing the program, and negative perception decreased from (43.1%) to (9.7%) with a statistical difference after implementing the program (p<0.001). This study revealed reduction obstacles regarding e-learning which in pre-program, 78.9%, 74.5%, and 70.4% reported the presence of obstacles regarding technical and administrative support, infrastructure and technology, and curriculum content dimension, respectively. While, in the post-program, 34.6%, 34.6%, and 28.7% reported the presence of obstacles regarding the same subdimension of obstacles. Also, perception and obstacles were negatively correlated. Conclusion: This study concluded that psycho-educational program showed beneficial effect on improving perception and reducing obstacles faced by nursing students towards electronic learning. Recommendation: this study might help as a guide for future study into the success reasons that contributing to the positive outlook regrading e-learning systems.