Nursing Student Satisfaction with a Crisis Management Game-Based Training; a quasi-experimental study

This study was conducted to investigate nursing student satisfaction and anxiety with an emergency and crisis management game-based training (GBT) course.

This quasi-experimental study included 60 third-year nursing students who had completed their clinical clerkships. The majority were single females, with no significant age differences, disaster experience, or crisis management training. The participants were randomly assigned to two equal group. The intervention group used disaster-themed games, while the control group received case-based training. The study comprised a four-week internship, and a self-reported anxiety levels was assessed before and after their first clinical experience. In addition, a self-report questionnaire was used to measure students' satisfaction with the Game-based Training program. The reliability of these questionnaires was assessed by a panel of ten faculty members and using Cronbach's alpha. The reliability of both the anxiety and satisfaction questionnaires was found to be 87%. The satisfaction questionnaire's alpha coefficients for realism, transferability, and value were 0.52, 0.79, and 0.74, respectively. Additionally, the face validity of these questionnaires was evaluated.

Participants felt that the experiences recreated real-life situations, tested their clinical decision-making, prepared them for the "real-life" clinical setting, and increased their confidence while in the clinical setting. In comparison to students who did not take part in the preclinical GBT, students who engaged in disaster-themed games showed significantly lower self-reported anxiety scores.

Nursing students are increasingly utilizing game simulators for learning, practicing, and enhancing their skills. They experience positive satisfaction and reduced anxiety through GBT. These simulations offer realistic clinical scenarios, opportunities for decision-making, and confidence-building.