Liu Kehan, Huang Chongmei, Wang Honghong, Tang Siyuan, Liu Minhui
Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, Changsha, China.
School of Nursing, Ningxia Medical University, Shengli South Street, Xingqing District, Yinchuan, 750001, China.
BMC Nurs. 2024 Nov 14;23(1):831. doi: 10.1186/s12912-024-02491-x.
Understanding the experiences of doctoral students regarding courses and comprehensive examinations is crucial to enhance the quality of doctoral programs. Scarce information is available on the experiences of nursing doctoral students on the courses and comprehensive examinations in China. The purpose of this study was to understand the nursing doctoral students' experiences on courses and comprehensive examinations of the doctoral program at Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, and propose improvements.
A convergent parallel mixed methods design adhering to EQUATOR guidelines for Good Reporting of a Mixed Methods Study.
A total of 20 doctoral students were recruited through purposive sampling in September 2022 from the Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University. They completed the self-designed questionnaire on demographic data, course, and comprehensive examination evaluations and participated in focus groups. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were recorded and transcribed for content analysis.
Regarding course experience, doctoral students preferred in-person lectures (80%) and group discussions (60%) for specialized compulsory courses. They were satisfied with the course novelty (85%), difficulty (75%), and practicality (85%), and half of the students found the credit allocation reasonable. The qualitative findings revealed their preference for appropriate and blended teaching methods, needs for additional interdisciplinary courses, statistics, and inter-school collaborative courses, accessible Nursing Philosophy and Theory courses, and high proportion of compulsory course credits. Regarding comprehensive examination experience, only 20% considered it necessary, and qualitative data revealed that they prefer more distinctive and effective contents; moreover, students were confused about the purpose of comprehensive examinations. The triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data demonstrated relative convergence.
These findings illustrated nursing doctoral students' experiences on courses and comprehensive examinations and provide suggestions on improving the courses and comprehensive examinations in China and possibly in the world. This study contributes to improving the quality of nursing doctoral programs in China and can serve as valuable guidance for nursing doctoral programs with similar educational environment around the world that are undergoing course and comprehensive examination reform.
了解博士生在课程和综合考试方面的经历对于提高博士项目质量至关重要。关于中国护理博士生在课程和综合考试方面的经历，现有信息稀缺。本研究旨在了解中南大学湘雅护理学院护理博士生在博士项目课程和综合考试方面的经历，并提出改进建议。
采用符合《混合方法研究良好报告规范》赤道准则的收敛平行混合方法设计。
2022年9月，通过目的抽样从中南大学湘雅护理学院招募了20名博士生。他们完成了关于人口统计学数据、课程和综合考试评价的自行设计问卷，并参加了焦点小组。定量数据采用描述性统计进行分析。定性数据进行记录和转录以进行内容分析。
在课程体验方面，博士生在专业必修课中更喜欢面授讲座（80%）和小组讨论（60%）。他们对课程新颖性（85%）、难度（75%）和实用性（85%）感到满意，一半的学生认为学分分配合理。定性研究结果显示，他们更喜欢合适的混合教学方法，需要更多跨学科课程、统计学课程和校际合作课程，希望能获得易理解的护理哲学与理论课程，且必修课学分比例较高。在综合考试体验方面，只有20%的学生认为有必要，定性数据显示他们更喜欢更具特色和有效的内容；此外，学生们对综合考试的目的感到困惑。定量和定性数据的三角验证显示出相对的一致性。
这些研究结果阐述了护理博士生在课程和综合考试方面的经历，并为改进中国乃至世界范围内的课程和综合考试提供了建议。本研究有助于提高中国护理博士项目的质量，并可为全球处于课程和综合考试改革中的具有类似教育环境的护理博士项目提供有价值的指导。
