Preliminary effect of challenge-based learning on fostering nursing students’ multidisciplinary collaboration in community health care settings

Abstract

Background: Competence in multidisciplinary collaboration is an essential attribute of nurses working in community health settings. Nursing students should be equipped with this attribute during undergraduate training.

Aim: To examine the effect of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) on multidisciplinary collaboration among nursing students.

Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest study. Nursing students worked in multidisciplinary groups to conduct community projects framed with CBL. The students designed, planned, and implemented health promotion activities for the selected health topics over a 14-week semester. Multidisciplinary collaboration was measured by Collaboration Scale at baseline and after the projects were completed. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the total and subdomain collaboration scores within-group. p-value <0.05 was statistical significance.

Results: The total and subdomain collaboration scores were significantly greater than those of the pretest ones (p<0.001), with the effect sizes (r) ranging from 0.48 to 0.71.

Conclusions: The present findings shed light on the potential positive effect of CBL on strengthening nursing students’ competence in multidisciplinary collaboration. Future studies with a more rigorous approach are needed to verify the findings.