Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nursing education has increasingly benefited from innovative teaching methods, such as simulation-based learning, to enhance engagement, satisfaction, and self-confidence of students while managing the emotional challenges associated with clinical training. METHODS: This study was conducted as a randomised controlled and experimental trial with students who took the course of internal medicine nursing in the nursing department of the faculty of health sciences of a state university in the autumn term of the 2022-2023 academic year. The students in the intervention group were provided with the scenarios generated by the researchers using the simulation model. Before starting the simulation application, a questionnaire, the state-trait anxiety inventory, and the student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning scale were applied to both intervention and control groups and the scales were repeated after the application. RESULTS: The mean scores of the students in the intervention group on the student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning scale were 3.8 ± 0.6 before the simulation and increased to 4.4 ± 0.6 after the simulation (p < 0.05). While their mean score of the state anxiety inventory increased from 39.5 ± 5.8 to 40.6 ± 5.3, their mean score of the trait anxiety inventory decreased from 46.6 ± 6.0 to 46.1 ± 5.5 (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Consequently, it was determined that simulation-assisted education did not affect the anxiety level of the students and significantly affected their levels of satisfaction and self-confidence in learning. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.