Effectiveness of Nursing Curriculum Implementation Support Program for Academic Heads

Abstract Background: The Indian Nursing Council revised the undergraduate nursing curriculum to be competency-based, credit-based semester system with electives to uplift and standardize nursing education in India. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Revised Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum Implementation Support Program for academic heads and to explore the challenges in its implementation. Methods: A multimethod design was used, a preexperimental quantitative design and a descriptive qualitative design to assess the feasibility and utility of the curriculum. Three hundred and eighty-two academic heads from 243 nursing colleges of two Indian states participated in batches in a 2-day State Nursing Council-sponsored Revised undergraduate nursing Curriculum Implementation Support Program. The pre- and posttest knowledge of participants was tested with a 20-item multiple-choice digital questionnaire. Focus group discussions explored the participants’ perceived challenges in curriculum implementation. Participants posted their reflections of the program through a 10-item questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. Results: About 17.4% of participants had inadequate knowledge and 59.7% had moderately adequate knowledge in pretest. Post workshop, 88.8% of participants had highly adequate knowledge. The paired differences in proportions were statistically significant at P < 0.05 with the threshold for knowledge adequacy as >75%. The following themes emerged from qualitative analysis: pace and organization of courses, faculty to meet curricular demands, changes in course assessment and evaluation, and students’ support and progression. Conclusion: The Curriculum Implementation Support Program was effective in improving the knowledge of academic heads. Focus group discussions identified the challenges and measures for successful curriculum implementation.