Infection control programmed instruction: an alternative to classroom instruction in baccalaureate nursing education.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether self-managed learning in the form of a programmed unit of instruction (PUI) in the basic principles of infection control is an acceptable alternative to a standard lecture format for teaching infection control to nursing students. A sample of 108 subjects was selected from third-year baccalaureate nursing students at two universities. The subjects were randomly assigned to two groups. The experimental group was given the pretest, the PUI (treatment), the post-test, and a Likert scale opinionnaire of the PUI. The control group was pretested and presented the same content in a lecture format, then post-tested. A pretest-post-test control group design was used for data analysis and a one-way analysis of covariance was performed on the post-test means of the groups. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was applied to the post-test means of the groups, with pretest scores and educational setting as covariates. Results indicate that nursing students who complete an infection control PUI score higher on post-tests than those who attend a lecture (p less than .001), regardless of pretest scores and educational setting. Subjects using the PUI also preferred this format and found the content manageable.