Effect of learning using the reflective writing in undergraduate nursing students

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of learning using the reflective writing in undergraduate nursing students. We tried to identify that learning using the reflective writing improves the metacognition, self-directed learning, and academic self-efficacy of undergraduate nursing students. A non-equivalent control group with pre-post-tests was designed. The participants in this study were 129 students who were enrolled in a medical-surgical nursing course at two national universities. The experimental group consisted of 64 juniors in 2017 and the control group 65 juniors in 2017. Collected data were analyzed using Chi-square, independent t-test and ANCOVA with the SPSS 24.0 for Window Program. There were significant increases in self-directed learning in the experimental group who participated in learning using the reflective writing compared to the control group who did not (F=6.07, p=0.015). However, there were no significant differences in metacognition and academic self-efficacy between the experimental and control groups. Further exploration is needed to develop and utilize learning using the reflective writing for diverse courses, depending on nursing educational goals and environments and apply the learning using the reflective writing longitudinally. Finally, it is recommended that this approach be developed as a universal method to measure outcomes.