Gamification-Based Virtual Reality in Subcutaneous Injection Skill Teaching

Nursing education is a structured educational system designed to impart a professional nursing identity to students and prepare them for professional life. This system integrates theoretical and practical education as a whole. It aims to develop cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills, as well as critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities.

The primary objective is to determine the most effective learning method by comparing two different methods in teaching the subcutaneous injection skill, one of the most frequently encountered invasive procedures in clinical practice. The secondary objective is to assess the impact of the applied learning methods on students' confidence levels. Additionally, it aims to demonstrate the usability and effectiveness of these methods in nursing skill education.

The population of the research will consist of first-year nursing students (N=280) enrolled in the Fundamentals of Nursing course at the Faculty of Nursing of a university in the spring semester of the 2024-2025 academic year.The "G. Power-3.1.9.2" program was used to estimate the appropriate number of students needed for a study sample. It was found through power analysis that a sample size of 96 students (p<0.05 significance) provided an 88% theoretical power with 95% confidence and 0.30 effect size. The students to be sampled will be randomly selected from the population using the simple random sampling method, considering a random number table, and will be equally divided into Experiment-1 (n=32), Experiment-2 (n=32), and Control (n=32) groups.

The subject of subcutaneous injection, which is planned to be taught within the scope of the research, will be explained theoretically to all students face-to-face in the classroom environment for 2 class hours (90 min), and then the students will be made to practice the skill on low-reality models in the laboratory for 4 class hours (180 min). In the laboratory, subcutaneous injection skill will be shown to all students by the researchers by demonstration method and students will be ensured to repeat the application until they learn the skill.

"Student Information Form", "SC Injection Skill Checklist", "Self-Confidence Scale" will be used in collecting research data.

Student Information Form: It consists of 8 questions characteristics of the students such as age, gender, graduated high school, city of residence for the longest time, desire for nursing profession and reason for choosing the profession, technology usage status.

SC Injection Skill Checklist: The form prepared by the researchers in line with the literature information was prepared to measure the skill levels of the students regarding SC injection. The prepared form will be sent to 3 faculty members who are experts in the field of Fundamentals of Nursing and who have studies on SC injection and expert opinion will be obtained before the start of the study to be evaluated for suitability. The form consisting of 27 items in which each application step is scored shows the skill level as a score.

Self-confidence Scale (SCS): Self-confidence scale developed by Akın (2007) by adopting self-efficacy theory within the scope of Bandura's social-cognitive theory consists of 33 items collected under two factors as internal self-confidence and external self-confidence. In the self-report and 5-point Likert-type scale, 17 items collected under the internal self-confidence factor are mostly related to individuals' self-confidence towards themselves, while the external self-confidence dimension consisting of 16 items is related to individuals' self-confidence towards their external environment and social life. The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the scale are 0.91 for the whole scale, 0.83 for the internal self-confidence dimension and 0.85 for the external self-confidence dimension.

After the theoretical and laboratory applications are completed according to their respective groups, the skill learning levels of students in all three groups will be evaluated by Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in laboratory and Subcutaneous Injection Skill Checklist in clinics of the University Hospital.

Finally, in the last week of the clinical application, the confidence levels of students in all three groups will be evaluated using the "Confidence Scale".

Statistical Analysis of Data The data obtained from the research will be analyzed using the IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) 25.0 software. Descriptive statistics (number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, minimum-maximum) and comparative statistics (Chi-Square Test, Mann Whitney U Test, Wilcoxon Test) will be used in the analysis of the data. A p-value of less than 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.

Inclusion criteria

• To be between 18-50 years old
• To be a student of nursing department
• Being a 1st year nursing student
• To volunteer to participate in the research
• Having internet access

Exclusion criteria

• Being a graduate of a of health vocational high school
• Having received training on SC injection,
• Have a clinical experience,
• To be absent from the theoretical and laboratory courses on the dates of SC injection subject