Assessing level of affective learning of undergraduate nursing students at a university in the Western Cape regarding rendering prevention of mother-to-child transmission services

Abstract

Nursing assessment and teaching strategies focus mainly on the cognitive and psychomotor areas of learning. This is eminent in research studies that state that the cognitive approach is taken because of challenges in investigating the affective domain. This study assesses undergraduate nursing students’ level of affective learning with regard to rendering prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services, which is key to working with at-risk populations. A qualitative exploratory descriptive and contextual design was utilised to assess the level of affective learning based on the students’ reflective journaling. Ninety reflective journals were analysed by means of content analysis using Atlas.ti 7. Students were able to reflect at all the levels of the affective domain, and it was found that the use of reflective journaling is an appropriate teaching and assessment tool to enhance this learning domain. However, further research is needed on the interrelationship between the affective domain and the cognitive and psychomotor domains.