A Comparison of the Psychiatric Nursing Master`s Curriculum in Iran and Canada

Background: One of the most important tasks of a university is to assess weaknesses and build upon strengths. As the education and skill level of psychiatric nursing graduates in Iran is often unpredictable, we hope to improve the current curriculum by comparing it to a successful educational program. Objectives: This study compared the MSc psychiatric nursing curriculum in Iran with Canada. Methods: This is a descriptive comparative study conducted in 2018. The required information was collected from the Iran Health Ministry curriculum and Canadian universities offering psychiatric nursing graduate programs. The method used was a Beredy model that includes description, interpretation, neighborhood, and comparison Results: The University in Canada has been established earlier than Iran. The educational program at Brandon University is focused on community needs. It is possible to complete program on a part- or full-time basis. Some courses are optional.Admission requirements include practical psychiatric nursing care experience and a relevant degree. In Iran the requirements are limited to a bachelor’s degree in nursing and an entrance exam. The program primarily focuses on theory, and was only offered on a full–time basis. Conclusion: The Iran educational program has weaknesses. In order to improve the quality of education, it is suggested students volunteer to have psychiatric nursing care experience. The curriculum should include administration, education, and practice. A more flexible curriculum based on the needs of Iranian society should be offered. Keywords: Curriculum, Master, Mental Health Nursing, Comparative Study, Canada, Ira

Development of Postgraduate Psychiatric Nursing Students’ Clinical Competency Questionnaire

Introduction: As to the significance of clinical competency, the competency concept should be up-to-date periodically until clinical competency is evaluated based on it. This study aimed to develop and evaluate psychometric properties of a new tool to measure the postgraduate psychiatric nursing students’ competencies.Methods: The current study was conducted with a sequential exploratory mixed-method, in Iran, in 2019 -2022. The qualitative part was conventional content analysis, and the quantitative part was a methodology study. The questionnaire was developed by the item generation via individual semi-structured interviews with 21 participants sampled purposefully, and a literature systematic review. In the quantitative phase, psychometric analysis was performed based onconsensus-based standards for the selection of health status measurement instruments (COSMIN) criteria, and using face, content, and construct (i.e., convergent, known group, and exploratory factor analysis done on 199 postgraduate psychiatric nursing students by available sampling) validity. t-test analysis was used to compare the clinical competenceratings of two groups of experienced and inexperienced postgraduate psychiatric nursing students. Additionally, dependability was examined for internal consistency, stability over a one-month period, and measurement error. The sampling technique used for content validity was deliberate. Then, the responsiveness (through minimally detectablechanges), and interpretability (through minimal important changes) were calculated.Results: The questionnaire consisted of 43 items. Construct validity assessment via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) showed that 67.53% of the cumulative variance was explained by two factors: “Education and nursing care” (23 items) and “Evidence based psychiatric nursing interventions” (20 items). The convergent validity with one golden standard instrument was 0.49. The difference of the clinical competency scores of the two groups of experienced and novice was significant (P0.05).Conclusion: The 43-item postgraduate psychiatric nursing students’ clinical competency questionnaire is a valid and reliable newly developed instrument. Further studies are recommended to be conducted to assess competency with the largest sample size to promote instrument

Qualitative Research Methodology in Nursing: Constructivism and Structuralism

Introduction: As searching and perceiving various aspects of human being are impossible by quantitative methods, it is important to use qualitative methods for disciplines that study human phenomena. Due to the development of the holistic paradigm in nursing, the naturalistic paradigm has received more attention. It emphasizes holism and is based on nursing philosophy such as structuralist and constructivist approaches which are both suitable for solving nursing problems. However, most articles use them interchangeably. This study aimed to explain structuralist and constructivist approaches. Methods: This review study was conducted via searching certain databases including Google scholar, PubMed, SID, and ScienceDirect using “constructivism”, “structuralism”, “constructionism”, and “nursing” as keywords both in Persian and English in combination and separately, among published articles. The articles explaining the two approaches were studied. Results: Both constructivism and structuralism are qualitative methods. The structuralist approach makes sense of the background structures of patients. It replaces subjects with anonymous entities, irrespective of time. Constructivism helps to find out socio-economic and political factors of a social problem, emphasizing a construct formed in the observer’s mind. Both approaches are holistic and provide deeper understanding. They are used in most articles interchangeably, though. Conclusion: Constructivism and structuralism, as approaches of naturalism, result in grasping human reaction, motivation, and feelings. They are appropriate approaches to unveil complex problems of health in nursing and detect the structures behind social realities. However, they are different in some respects such as the school of thought, the role of the researcher, and the purpose of data analysis