PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER LEARNING AMONG UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS, PESHAWAR.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, learning in nursing education was teacher-centered, but now with the advancement in teaching-learning methodologies, peer learning has gained popularity and acceptance in nursing education. It is a two-way learning process that provides joint benefits to all learners involved. It also brings positive effects such as autonomy, self-confidence, critical-thinking skills, deeper understanding, and leadership abilities which support the learners in their academic and professional sphere. Despite its importance, scarce literature is available on the subject particularly in the context of undergraduate nursing students, Peshawar. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to measure the perceived effectiveness of peer learning among undergraduate nursing students, Peshawar. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in three nursing institutes in Peshawar. Using convenience sampling technique, 228 students were included in the study. A questionnaire was adopted and modified for the context. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to be 0.81 after conducting a pilot study. Data was analyzed on SPSS version 20. RESULTS: The study indicated that a significant percentage of undergraduate students (67.11%) perceived peer learning as highly effective, whereas 32.02% considered it as moderately effective while an exceedingly small percentage (0.87%) saw it as ineffective. Chi-square test was applied to find out any significant association between the demographic variables and peer learning, it was significant (p<0.001) between the institute where the students were enrolled in and peer learning. CONCLUSION: Overall, the study proved that peer learning is a highly effective teaching-learning strategy among nursing students and has remarkable benefits. KEYWORDS: Peer Learning, Perceived Effectiveness, Undergraduate Nursing Students.