PATHWAYS TO PROFICIENCY: HARNESSING CONCEPT MAPPING TO FOSTER SELF-EFFICACY IN NURSING EDUCATION

Abstract

In today's healthcare landscape, organizations seek specific changes in healthcare professionals. Change theories necessitate the application of innovative strategies to the educational process. Simultaneously, nursing education places greater emphasis on reflective practice to effect positive transformations in clinical settings (Shellenbarger. T & Robb M., 2015). Consequently, the utilization of Concept Mapping (CM) in nursing, as a modern teaching method, holds promise. CM relies on the concept of reciprocal correlation in its design, as learning occurs through the establishment of connections between new and pre-existing concepts within the learner's cognitive framework (Moattari M, 2014). Successful development of nursing curricula can advance the field and offer a model for transitioning from traditional to a new paradigm, allowing students to actively engage in knowledge discovery and achieving learning outcomes. Students who rely on rote memorization to learn content often encounter challenges and may experience less successful learning (Jaafarpour M et al., 2015). The need for a change in curricula arises from the challenges faced by nursing as a profession in recent years. Nurses are now responsible for caring for patients with various known and unknown diagnoses, requiring perception and metacognitive skills to enhance performance in clinical settings (Rasulzadeh N. et al., 2015; Billings and J. Halstead, 2009).