THE EFFECTS OF PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING ON NURSING PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY AND SATISFACTION IN A PRIMARY MEDICAL CARE COURSE OF NURSING STUDENTS

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study aimed to: (1) compare nursing students’ problem-solving ability after learning through Problem-Based Learning (PBL) with the criterion score of 60% in the Primary Medical Care course, and (2) examine students’ satisfaction with the PBL learning approach.The study employed a one-group posttest-only design. The sample consisted of 112 third-year nursing students enrolled in the academic year 2024, selected through purposive sampling.

The research instruments included: (1) a PBL instructional manual on the topic Diagnostic Approaches for Common Clinical Syndromes, (2) a learning achievement test, and (3) a student satisfaction questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire, determined using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, was .96. Data were collected from February to May 2025. Data analysis was performed using one-sample t-test and descriptive statistics.

The results showed that the students’ mean posttest score was 20.04 out of 25, which was significantly higher than the 60% criterion (p-value < 0.001), with 97.32% of the students achieving scores above the criterion. In addition, the overall satisfaction of students toward the PBL approach was at the highest level (mean = 4.51), particularly in aspects related to active participation and hands-on learning experiences.

The findings indicate that Problem-Based Learning effectively enhances students’ problem-solving ability and learning achievement in the Primary Medical Care course.