Theory-practice gap and its associated factors in the view of undergraduate nursing students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences

The theory-practice gap is one of the critical problems of nursing. This gap can affect the quality of patient care. This study aimed to investigate the theory-practice gap and its associated factors in the view of nursing students.

A cross-sectional survey with census sampling was done on 179, 3rd to 8th semester, undergraduate nursing students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. A self-designed three-part questionnaire including "demographic characteristics", " theory-practice gap" and "factors associated with the theory-practice gap" was used. The data were analyzed by STATA version 12 using Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis tests considering a statistically significant level of 0.05.

There was a significant relationship between factors related to instructors and semester (P=0.0019). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the gap and the total score of the factors (P=0.0092, r=0.1943). Multiple Regression analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between the theory-practice gap and factors related to hospital and clinical practice (P=0.005), as well as factors related to educational planning (P=0.000). Factors related to educational planning were the most important factor affecting the theory-practice gap.

Considering the theory-practice gap from the viewpoint of students and the relationship between this gap and total score, it is necessary to apply appropriate strategies to reduce the theory-practice gap and revision of educational planning in order to avoid the gap generation and its complications.