Improving secondary prevention screening in clinical encounters using mhealth among prelicensure master's entry clinical nursing students

Abstract

Aims: To determine the feasibility and acceptability of a mHealth application among nursing students for health promotion and secondary prevention health recommendations for hospitalized adult patients.

Methods: A pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 169 prelicensure master's entry clinical nursing students in a large urban public university. Survey questions assessed intention to use, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, voluntariness, clinical area relevance, output quality, and result demonstrability of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) evidence-based practice guidelines via the mHealth application.

Results: Descriptive statistics and frequencies were used to explore sociodemographics; paired t-tests were used to evaluate pre- and posttest differences. Pre- and posttest significant differences (p < .01) were found between intention to use, perceived usefulness, subjective norm, voluntariness, image, clinical relevance, result demonstrability, and output quality (p < .02). Ease use of a mHealth application was not significantly different.

Linking evidence to action: These findings highlight the need to integrate evidence-based practice tools using mHealth technology among prelicensure master's entry clinical nursing students in order to engage and foster translational learning and improve dissemination of secondary prevention screening guidelines among hospitalized patients.

Keywords: education or curriculum learning; evidence-based practice; health behaviors; health education; health promotion; patient education; technology.