BACKGROUND: Simulation-based learning experiences allow undergraduate nursing students to develop competence and confidence through deliberate practice with immediate feedback on the learner\'s performance through debriefing. With the transition to competency-based nursing education, nursing faculty need more guidance in implementing competency-based evaluations in the simulation setting.
OBJECTIVE: This Delphi study aims to inform the future development of a competency-based tool - SimComp - based on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials.
METHODS: A Delphi framework was used to recruit expert nursing faculty to complete the surveys via an online platform. Data analysis occurred through open-ended questions and quantitative methods to ensure that the responses from expert panelists were used to form the results.
RESULTS: After four rounds of this Delphi study, a consensus was achieved on 111 appropriate items for assessing competence in the simulation-based learning environment.
CONCLUSIONS: While further research is warranted, this study provides insight for nursing institutions considering implementing or increasing the use of simulation within their program for competency-based evaluations.

The prevalence of mental health issues among UK undergraduate students is growing, and poor diet quality appears to be a risk factor for poor mental health although with limited research in this area. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the cross-sectional associations between diet quality and common mental disorders (CMD) such as depression and anxiety in UK undergraduate students. A cross-sectional survey consisting of demographic information and validated questionnaires (the Short-Form Food Frequency Questionnaire [SFFFQ] and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]) was conducted to measure diet quality and anxiety and depression in young adults in 44 UK-based universities. Multiple regression analysis adjusting for confounding factors was used to assess the associations between them. Undergraduate university students (n = 202, 67% female) with a mean age of 20.9 ± 3.6 years and a mean body mass index (n = 170) of 22.6 ± 3.2 kg/m2 took part in the study. Prevalence of anxiety was high, with 40% of the sample having an anxiety score in the severe range (≥12 points) while the prevalence of depression was lower, with 6% of the population having a depression score in the severe range (≥12 points). Diet quality was significantly higher for females than males (p = 0.034) and was poor for 38% of the sample, being more common in males compared to females, although not significantly so (43% and 36%, respectively). Diet quality was inversely associated with anxiety (β = -0.427; p = 0.029) and was more likely to be associated with anxiety in females than males (β = 0.743; p = 0.043). No significant relationship between diet quality and depression was found. Better self-reported health, father\'s qualification and smoking status were also associated with less anxiety and depression. This research supports other research suggesting that UK universities should explore whether the implementation of dietary interventions and improving the food environment would be a cost-effective option to reduce the high prevalence of anxiety among students.

During their transition from basic to higher education, first-year undergraduate nursing students need to balance theoretical and clinical requirements, as well as their social life. A significant number of them struggle with this, due to a lack of coping mechanisms due to poor resilience. This study aimed to determine factors that influence resilience among first-year undergraduate nursing students at a South African university. A cross-sectional descriptive research design was followed, with stratified convenient sampling. Data were collected during August 2023 using an adapted self-administered online questionnaire. The reliability and validity of the adapted version was ensured in the context of this study. Principal component analysis and varimax rotation were used to analyse data. A total of 123 participants (47.2% from campus A and 52.8% from campus B) completed the questionnaire. The majority (88%) were females. This study showed that resilience can be dependent on various factors, such as lecturer support, parental support, academic achievement, peer and mentor support, optimism about the future, and self-determination. It is recommended that higher education institutions should consider incorporating the factors presented in this study as part of the broader orientation of first-year undergraduate nursing students when they first arrive at university.

BACKGROUND: The core of infection control in dental settings involves minimizing potential cross-infection risks between patients and from patients to other workers in health care. Infection control is important for promoting enhanced adherence to protocols through sterilization, disinfection, and infection control knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among undergraduate dental students.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey among 222 undergraduates of Dental Students and Interns of the Dental Institute, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, India, was conducted. KAP of participants related to sterilization and disinfection were assessed before and after educational lectures using a pre-fabricated questionnaire.
RESULTS: All 182 respondents considered the importance of sterilization and disinfection during the dental procedure. While 98.8% had adequate knowledge about isolation and immunization, only 3.8% were vaccinated against hepatitis B virus (HBV). They were perfect in hand hygiene compliance (100%) and awareness regarding autoclave sterilization stood at 78.8%. Mean KAP scores were 7.03 ± 1.39, 10.15 ± 1.40, and 9.
CONCLUSIONS: The undergraduate dental students showed a high level of awareness but wide gaps between practice and attitude of sterilization protocols. Therefore, there is a need for interventions that could bridge the theory-practice gap to improve adherence to infection control measures.

OBJECTIVE: Student wellbeing is a global concern in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Students in healthcare often are exposed to academic, clinical, and psychosocial factors of stress, in particularly student midwives, as they are exposed to other people\'s intimate life experiences. The aim of this study was to identify factors which help and hinder student midwives in their studies.
BACKGROUND: Midwifery students in the Netherlands must complete 35-50 % of their bachelor\'s degree with placements in community and hospital-based maternity care.
METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted, using the Job-Demands-Resources model. Data were collected through semi-structured individual and group interviews with Bachelor student midwives from the Netherlands.
RESULTS: During coursework students found the high workload and lack of recovery time demanding. During placements, their sense of being constantly assessed, having to be available on call and being away from home were experienced as demands. The relationships with teachers as supportive. Support from their placement supervisors and peers were also resourceful if available and positive. In other cases, peer pressure and grand expectations from supervisors were demanding. Personal demands were setting ambitious standards and feeling alone during their placements, and personal resources were positive attitude towards to becoming a midwife.
CONCLUSIONS: The academic programme for student midwives seemed highly demanding, with a stark difference between the learning environment in the faculty coursework and in the placements. Positive support from placement supervisors in a culture that values learning and development, can contribute to student midwives\' socialization into midwifery.

Critical thinking is considered as the essential set of skills for medical practice, particularly during emergencies. However, there is lack of conceptual clarity around it and it was not explicitly included in the undergraduate medical curriculum in India. The present study has been planned to assess the critical thinking disposition and clinical reasoning skills among medical undergraduate students in a medical college in West Bengal, India. The perceived definition and attributes of critical thinking in medical education will be explored and the contexts where application of critical thinking skills may be crucial for medical practice will be identified. The content validity index, test-retest agreement; internal consistency and construct validity of the Critical Thinking Disposition Assessment Questionnaire (CTDAQ) will be assessed through step-by-step procedure. CTDAQ and the case-based objective-type questions for the clinical reasoning skills will be applied to around 200 medical undergraduate students. Their perception and experience on critical thinking in medical education will be assessed with structured open-ended questions. In-depth interviews with medical teachers of the second and third phases of undergraduate medical curriculum will be conducted to assess their perception and experiences on critical thinking. The quantitative analysis will be conducted with MS excel and R software using the relevant packages. The qualitative data will be transcribed and translated in English, close to the participants\' verbatim. The thematic analysis will be conducted with inductive coding and memoing. The study will be conducted maintaining ethical standards for epidemiological studies. The present study, one of the first a few studies in India, will help to meet the conceptual gap in understanding the attributes of critical thinking, its association with clinical reasoning and the contexts of preferred application in medical practice.

UNASSIGNED: The issue of the mode of entry to nursing programmes and its effect on student success is a key concern among researchers globally. Identifying the mode of entry, which has the potential to improve academic success, decrease the failure rate and lead to the successful completion of a degree, is crucial to increase the nursing workforce.
UNASSIGNED: The objectives of this study were to assess the association of mode of entry to a nursing programme on student success among undergraduate students.
UNASSIGNED: The study was conducted at a public nursing education institution (NEIs) in the northeast of Namibia.
UNASSIGNED: A retrospective multi-cohort study was conducted to assess the association of mode of entry on student success. Academic outcomes were analysed, observing two cohorts of nursing students.
UNASSIGNED: Results show that 76.2% (f = 16) of mature-age entry students and 53.7% (f = 29) of direct entry students completed their programme on time. However, 42.1% (f = 8) of access students were expected to return. Female students 56.8% (f = 25) and male students 56.0% (f = 28) completed on time. There was no significant relationship between the mode of entry and completion status with p > 0.05, respectively.
UNASSIGNED: A higher percentage of mature-age entry students was found to complete their studies on time than direct entry and English access entry students.
UNASSIGNED: These findings could be used in the revision of student recruitment strategies to select nursing students who are more likely to achieve the best academic outcomes.

Information literacy skills are an important part of research skills for undergraduate science students. This case study presents a novel approach to developing these types of research skills. By deconstructing the research process into separate steps, explicitly defining, and practicing the skills involved, students can progressively develop these skills and apply them. In this course, systematic reviews are used as exemplars for the research process. We align the Research Skills Development Framework with the steps of a systematic review and present specific skills and accompanying activities for each step. This workshop-based course emphasizes skill development and can help overcome assessments that rely solely on a final paper, with no record or evidence of the student research process, that could be created by a generative artificial intelligence tool.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study presents a novel approach to teaching undergraduate science students rigorous research skills with scaffolded systematic review practice.

BACKGROUND: The undergraduate first year of a nursing program is regarded as a difficult and challenging part of the nursing course, due to the variation experienced in the transition from basic to higher education compared to other first-year courses. This causes stress, which could contribute to students\' lack of coping with the transition to the university. These challenges call for coping strategies to ensure resilience among this cohort of undergraduate nursing students.
METHODS: An exploratory descriptive qualitative research design was adopted to assess the coping mechanisms used by first-year nursing students during transition from basic to higher education. Data was gathered through four online focus group discussions which were conducted using the Microsoft Teams app, with participants purposefully selected from the two campuses where the study was conducted. The focus group discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Data was analysed by the researcher and the co-coder using qualitative content data analysis.
RESULTS: Three categories emerged from the data: experiences of transition from basic to higher education, coping with transition from basic to higher education, and recommendations for coping with transition from basic to higher education. Participants expressed that they use the following six coping strategies during the transition from basic to higher education: adaptive coping, appraisal-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping, social coping, and seeking help from mentors.
CONCLUSIONS: Transition from basic to higher education is challenging for undergraduate first-year nursing students. The study suggests that there is a need to standardize and contextualize the support measures for undergraduate first-year nursing students during their transition from basic to higher education in order to enhance their ability to cope.

BACKGROUND: Repeated stigmatization due to group membership constitutes a recurrent stressor with negative impact on physical and mental health (minority stress model). Among European countries, Romania ranks low on LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The \"+\" represents individuals whose identities do not fit typical binary notions of male and female [nonbinary]) inclusion, with 45% of Romanian LGBT+ respondents reporting discrimination in at least 1 area of life in the year preceding the survey. Importantly, while all LGBT+ people might experience minority stress, younger sexual minority individuals are more prone to the detrimental impacts of stigma on their mental and physical health. As such, interventions are necessary to improve the inclusion climate within schools, where young people spend most of their time. Until now, most interventions addressing this topic have been conducted on undergraduate students in Western countries, with no studies conducted in countries that have widespread anti-LGBT+ attitudes.
OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the research protocol for a randomized controlled trial investigating whether LGBT+ stigma and bias among Romanian school teachers can be reduced using an internet-based intervention focusing on education and contact as primary training elements.
METHODS: A sample of 175 school teachers will be randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. The experimental group participants will receive the intervention first and then complete the outcome measures, whereas the control group will complete the outcome measures first and then receive the intervention. The 1-hour multimedia intervention is developed for internet-based delivery under controlled conditions. It includes 2 interactive exercises, 2 recorded presentations, animations, and testimonies from LGBT+ individuals. Data for attitudinal, behavioral, cognitive, and affective measures will be collected during the same session (before or after the intervention, depending on the condition). We also plan to conduct a brief mixed methods follow-up study at 6 to 8 months post participation to investigate potential long-term effects of training. However, due to attrition and lack of experimental control (all participants will have completed the intervention, regardless of the condition), these data will be analyzed and reported separately using a mixed methods approach.
RESULTS: This paper details the protocol for the teacher intervention study. Data collection began in December 2022 and was completed by February 2023. Data analysis will be performed upon protocol acceptance. Follow-up measures will be completed in 2024. Results are expected to be submitted for publication following analysis in the spring of 2024.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study will establish the effectiveness of an internet-based intervention intended to lessen anti-LGBT stigma and sentiment in a nation where these views have long been prevalent. If successful, the intervention could end up serving as a resource for Romanian teachers and guidance counselors in high schools.
BACKGROUND: ISRCTN 84290049; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN84290049.
UNASSIGNED: DERR1-10.2196/54254.