Current Status and Influencing Factors of Nursing Students’ Health Education Ability in Tertiary Vocational Colleges in Nanjing China

Objective: This study aims to survey the current health education ability of nursing students in Nanjing, China and explore influencing factors affecting their ability of health education. Methods: Using a cross-sectional descriptive design and convenience sampling, 282 tertiary vocational college nursing interns from 8 triple-A hospitals are investigated using by Health education ability self-assessment scale for nursing students. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS20.0. Results: The total healthy education ability score of nursing interns is 157.95 ± 21.90. None of the dimensions qualifies the “basic level” of health education ability. School GPA, nursing research courses, attendance in health education activities, passion for the nursing career, awareness of the importance of health education, receiving skills on health education are statistically significant influencing factors on healthy education abilities (t/F scores are 2.873, 3.025, 3.289, 9.506, 5.884, 2.043; p < 0.05). Based on multi-regression analysis, passion for the nursing career, nursing research courses and attendance in health education activities are the key influencing factors (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The overall health education abilities of nursing interns from tertiary vocational colleges are relatively low. These colleges should strengthen research abilities of nursing students and promote the teaching of health education skills and abilities.