Learning experience through peer education: a qualitative study

Peer education can be a useful approach in learning difficult and important courses such as physiology. Since students encounter new teacher roles and learning from classmates in this approach, they might go through new experiences which contribute to developing effective peer education. However, few studies have examined these experiences, especially in Iranian culture; therefore this study aimed to explain the experiences of nursing students participating in peer education programs for physiology course. This was a qualitative content analysis study. The sample included 16 second semester undergraduate nursing students studying at Mashhad School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2013 who had earlier experienced peer education in Physiology. Participants were selected through purposive sampling then interviewed. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Two major themes including ease of learning and educational participation were emerged from data analysis. Ease of learning consisted of four minor themes including ease of understanding, modification of methods, course norm selection, and internalization of learning. Educational participation included two minor themes namely critical consciousness and new educational horizon. The results of this study indicated that the need for greater attention by educational institutions and universities to student-centered teaching methods such as peer education since these methods could be a supplement to faculty members` teaching by providing a positive experience and continuous in-depth learning.