Background: Infection control is essential in nursing education, but traditional methods often lack student engagement and may not support long-term knowledge retention. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of a gamified infection control education program on first-year nursing students in Turkiye.
Methods: Sixty students were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 30) or a control group (n = 30). The intervention group received a 4-week gamified program that included physical games, case-based activities and escape-room scenarios, all designed according to Bloom's Taxonomy. The control group received standard lecture-based instruction. Data were collected using the Infection Control Cognitive Achievement Measurement Questionnaire, the Academic Nurse Self-Efficacy Scale and the Learning Motivation Scale in Higher Education. Analyses included t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, correlation analyses and regression.
Results: The intervention group showed higher learning motivation (p = 0.025) and greater cognitive achievement in sterilization and asepsis (p = 0.024), though these differences did not remain significant after Holm-Bonferroni correction. No significant difference in academic self-efficacy was observed (p > 0.05). Regression analysis showed that the learning objectives subdimension of the Learning Motivation in Higher Education Scale significantly predicted cumulative grade point average (p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.241).
Conclusion: Gamified learning may enhance motivation and specific cognitive outcomes but appears to have a limited impact on self-efficacy. As a complementary method to traditional instruction, it holds promise, particularly when integrated with clinical practice and personalized feedback.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06786806.
Keywords: education; gamification; infection control; motivation; nursing; self‐efficacy.
© 2026 The Author(s). International Journal of Nursing Practice published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.