Nursing education research in Finland--A review of doctoral dissertations

Jonna Vierula; Minna Stolt; Leena Salminen; Helena Leino-Kilpi; Jouni Tuomi

doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2015.10.014

Nursing education research in Finland--A review of doctoral dissertations

Nurse Educ Today. 2016 Feb:37:145-54. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2015.10.014. Epub 2015 Oct 26.

Authors

Jonna Vierula¹, Minna Stolt², Leena Salminen³, Helena Leino-Kilpi⁴, Jouni Tuomi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing Science, 20014 University of Turku, Finland. Electronic address: jonna.h.vierula@utu.fi.
² Department of Nursing Science, 20014 University of Turku, Finland. Electronic address: minna.stolt@utu.fi.
³ Department of Nursing Science, 20014 University of Turku, Finland. Electronic address: leena.kaarina.salminen@utu.fi.
⁴ Department of Nursing Science, 20014 University Of Turku Finland and Hospital District of Southwest, Finland. Electronic address: helena.leino-kilpi@utu.fi.
⁵ Tampere University of Applied Sciences, TAMK Pääkampus Kuntokatu 3, 33520 Tampere Finland. Electronic address: jouni.tuomi@tamk.fi.

PMID: 26611574
DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2015.10.014

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this literature review was to describe the focus of nursing education research in Finnish doctoral dissertations in the field of nursing and caring sciences between the years 1979-2014. In addition, the characteristics (methods, study informants and reporting of validity, reliability, and research ethics) of the dissertations were described.

Methods and data: A literature review was carried out. Altogether 51 Finnish doctoral dissertations of nursing and caring sciences focusing on nursing education research were included in the final analysis. The dissertations were published in 1990-2014. The data were analyzed by content analysis both deductively and inductively.

Results: Finnish nursing education research was focused on four main areas: structural factors in nursing education, nurse teacherhood, teaching activities, and learning and learning outcomes in nursing education. The most central focus was learning in nursing education whereas nurse teacherhood and structural factors in nursing education were studied the least. Students were the predominant study informant group while nurse staff including nurse mentors were next and nurse educators only the third. Surveys and interviews were the most common data collection methods. In the findings there were a lot of similarities with international nursing education research.

Conclusions: Finnish nursing education research has been relatively student-centered yet studies focusing on the education of other nursing-based professions are rare. Future research about nurse teacherhood, curricula and structural factors in nursing education is recommended also. In addition, nursing education research should focus on the central phenomena of nursing education and working life. All in all, more nursing education research is needed. Nursing education dissertations cover only 12.3% of all the dissertations of nursing and caring sciences in Finland.

Keywords: Doctoral dissertation; Literature review; Nursing education; Nursing education research.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Academic Dissertations as Topic*
Education, Nursing, Graduate*
Faculty, Nursing / education
Finland
Humans
Mentors
Nursing Education Research*
Nursing Staff
Students, Nursing