Nursing students’ knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy in blended learning of cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Although various forms of online education are on the rise worldwide, effects of such innovative approach are yet to be validated. This study analyzes whether blended learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) education that integrates e-learning and face-to-face education is effective in improving nursing students’ knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy. METHODS: A randomized controlled design was used. The participants of this study were 120 nursing students randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 60) or the control (n = 60). The intervention group was trained using a blended learning CPR education program. Self report questionnaires with knoweldge, attitude, and self-efficacy were all used in the pre and post intervention. Differences before and after the education of each group were analyzed with a paired t-test, and the differences between the two groups were analyzed with ANCOVA with knowledge as the covariate. RESULTS: The findings indicated that the intervention group had significantly higher knowledge scores (intervention: 16.40 ± 1.56, control: 6.46 ± 2, p < .001), and emotional attitude (intervention: 40.85 ± 8.01, control: 36.05 ± 6.87, p = .002) about CPR than the control group, but other outcomes did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: In this monocentric study, a blended learning CPR program that integrated videos and face to face lecture was found effective in improving nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes regarding CPR.