Nurse academics and the teaching of undergraduate nursing numeracy: A cross-sectional study of self-reported confidence and anxiety.

BACKGROUND

Numeracy and mathematics are terms that can cause anxiety, not only in students, but this emotion can also be experienced in teachers. Anxiety can inhibit teacher performance and is correlated with low self-confidence. The anxiety felt by school teachers when teaching mathematics is widely reported, however, the self-reported confidence and anxiety levels of nurse academics when teaching numeracy concepts to undergraduate nursing students has never been studied.

AIM

To explore and analyse Australian nurse academics' self-reported confidence and anxiety levels when teaching nursing numeracy to undergraduate nursing students.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

Australian universities that provide an undergraduate nursing degree leading to nursing registration.

PARTICIPANTS

Australian nurse academics employed either permanent full time or part time; casual /sessional; or on a fixed term contract, who teach nursing numeracy and medication calculations to undergraduate nursing students.

METHODS

A combination of convenience and purposive sampling was used to recruit Australian nurse academics (n = 170). Data were collected between Nov 2023 and Feb 2024 using an online survey platform.

RESULTS

Almost 50 % of participants self-reported feeling either not confident or somewhat confident and very or somewhat anxious when teaching nursing numeracy. There were no significant differences in overall confidence and anxiety based on demographic variables, indicating this is a widespread issue. A non-significant trend towards level A academics experiencing higher anxiety and less confidence was noted.

CONCLUSIONS

A significant proportion of students are being taught nursing numeracy by nurse academics who lack confidence and experience anxiety, which can be transferred to students, affecting learning and performance. The downstream consequences are potentially poor numeracy skills in students and compromised patient safety. Strategies that have been effective in reducing school teachers' anxiety could be used to support nurse academics.