Challenges and benefits associated with educational materials: experiences of the Ghanaian nurse trainees

Background Educational Materials (EMs) are vital in teaching and learning activities and contribute significantly to the acquisition of knowledge and skills for an enhanced performance. The right educational resources help stimulate, reinforce and make it more impact and beneficial. AIM This study’s main goal is to identify the learning materials that are used regularly in nursing training schools and analyze the experiences of nurse trainees on their impact on the achievement of academic objectives. And to guide stakeholders in nursing education policy formulation. SETTING This study was conducted in four (4) Nursing and Midwifery Training institutions in Ghana.

A descriptive method was used for this study. An online survey was used to collect data from 47 nurse educators and 374 student nurses and analyzed using Stata version 16.0. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology’s Committee on Human Research, Publication, and Ethics (CHRPE) was consulted for ethical approval.

The common available EMs were handouts (80.1%), recommended textbooks (55.9%), and smartphones (54.6%). The EMs that were commonly used by students were the handout (58.6%), recommended textbooks (39.6%), and both internet information and PowerPoint slides (18.8%) each. Majority of the students (64.1%) reported that the commonly used EMs made good contributions towards their academic performance and 22.6% indicated that the used EMs made excellent contributions to their academic performance. Example e-books has OR of 0.43 and a p-value of 0.021.

Modern Ems such as reliable internet access, 3D animation videos should be made readily available in schools to greatly help to improve the standards of nursing education and contribute to quality healthcare workforce. Contributions Educational materials plays a vital role in health trainees’ education, increases nurses knowledge, and output on health care delivery. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Not Applicable The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethical approval was sought from the Committee on Human Research, Publication and Ethics (CHRPE) Ref: CHRPE/AP/012/21 of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Not Applicable I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Not Applicable I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Not Applicable Footnotes (jadabre3{at}gmail.com) 0249748090, (elormbam{at}yahoo.com) 0244504751 Data Availability All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.