The Effect of Disaster Nursing Course on Nursing Students' Perceptions of Disaster Awareness, Preparedness, Response Self-Efficacy

Nurses are the first health professionals to interact with people affected by disasters. The success of this interaction depends on the outcome of the process which is affected by the disaster management knowledge and skills of the nurse. This study was conducted to examine the effect of disaster nursing course on nursing students' disaster awareness, preparedness and intervention self-efficacy perceptions. The study was conducted in X University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing in the fall semester of 2021-2022 in a one-group quasi-experimental study design with pre-test post-test design. The population of the study consisted of senior students (n: 60) studying in the nursing department, while the sample was not selected (n: 43). "Personal information form", "Disaster Awareness Scale", "Disaster Preparedness Scale" and " Disaster Response Self-Efficacy Scale" were used to collect the data. The research data were collected in the first week (pre-test) and the last week (post-test) of the disaster nursing elective course. While 53.5% of the participants were between 22-23 years old, 55.8% of them stated that they had experienced a real disaster. It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the participants' pre-disaster awareness dimension, post-disaster awareness dimension and disaster awareness perception scale (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test scores of the participants from the disaster preparedness scale, disaster response self-efficacy scale (p<0.05). It was observed that the disaster nursing course positively improved nursing students' disaster awareness, disaster preparedness and disaster response self-efficacy perceptions.