Iranian Nursing Students’ Perceptions Regarding Use of Concept Mapping: A Content Analysis

Background: Nursing education provides opportunities for students to create positive changes in a clinical setting. Thus, the use of modern teaching approaches such as concept mapping (CM) in nursing can be useful. The aim of this study is to explain nursing students’ perception of applying CM.

Methods: This qualitative study reports CM in nursing students. Research areas were nursing colleges affiliated with the Iran and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences. The participants comprised 25 nursing students who entered the research purposefully. Interviews were conducted face-to-face and semi-structured. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, reviewed, and the results were then extracted.

Results: Two categories and four subcategories were identified. The categories included transcendence of meaningful learning and improvement clinical skills. Transcendence of meaningful learning had 2 subcategories: favorable perception and deliberative interpretation. Improvement of clinical skills also had 2 subcategories: reinforcing critical thinking and facilitating patient-centered care.

Conclusion: Identifying nursing students’ perception of CM techniques can assist nursing education administrators in providing better education to students both theoretically and practically based on the use of the aforementioned technique.