Effects of Debriefing on Motivation and Reflective Thinking of Nursing Students during In-School Practicum Using a Flipped Learning Model

Debriefing and flipped learning have been determined to be useful strategies for nursing education. Recently, it has been reported that applying debriefing and flipped learning together was helpful for educational outcomes. The objective of this study was to compare learning motivation and reflective thinking before and after debriefing during nursing practicums that applied flipped learning. We implemented a quasi-experimental procedure in the form of a pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design (1 September to 22 October 2021). The participants comprised 63 nursing students in South Korea (33 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group). Each group took part in a nursing practice class, wherein the experimental group engaged in debriefing using flipped learning, while the control group engaged only in flipped learning. We then examined academic motivation and reflective thinking in both the groups, and found that reflective thinking was significantly higher in the experimental group (53.67 +/- 5.71) versus the control group (50.80 +/- 4.69) (t = 2.165, p = 0.034). However, there were no differences in learning motivation between the two groups (t = 1.864, p = 0.067). In sum, this study confirmed the benefits of this new teaching approach, in which debriefing and flipped learning were integrated and incorporated into a nursing practice class. Given our promising results, this approach can be applied in various cases to strengthen the clinical practice skills of nursing students.

Automated summary

This study compared learning motivation and reflective thinking before and after debriefing during nursing practicums that applied flipped learning. The results showed that reflective thinking was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group, while there were no differences in learning motivation between the two groups. This study confirmed the benefits of integrating debriefing and flipped learning into nursing practice, and suggested its applicability for enhancing the clinical practice skills of nursing students.