Predictors of educational outcomes of undergraduate nursing students in alcohol and drug education

SummaryThis paper reports a study which aimed to evaluate the impact of an educational programme on alcohol and drug on knowledge acquisition, changes in attitude and intervention confidence skills of undergraduate nursing students and identify the influence of selected demographic variables on educational outcomes. Despite the high levels of morbidity and mortality resulting from substance misuse, few nurses have been adequately prepared to respond effectively. There remains a dearth of evidence on the educational interventions in alcohol and drug with undergraduate nursing students and this study intends to add a body of knowledge to this field. A quasi-experimental, pre-post-test design was used using with a purposive sample of four cohorts of undergraduate nursing students (n = 110) in England. Pre-tests and post-tests after the educational intervention on alcohol and drug were administered to measure the educational outcomes. The data was collected between March 2002 and September 2003. The results showed the educational intervention on alcohol and drug had a significant impact on educational outcomes. There were significant differences between the pre-test and post-test knowledge mean score (t = −.4.61, d.f. = 109, p = 0.000), attitude (t = −2.36, d.f. = 109, p = 0.02) and intervention confidence skills (t = −9.75, d.f. = 109, p = 0.000). Within the multi-layered hypothesis, the results indicate that only ethnicity was found to have a significant influence on both knowledge acquisition (F(2,106) = 6.59, p = 0.002) and intervention confidence skills (F(2, 106) = 15.0, p = 0.000).The study provides some evidence that a short intensive educational programme on alcohol and drug can be effective in improving educational outcomes. Further research should be undertaken with undergraduate nurses specialising in different branch of nursing.