Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the difficulties faced by nurses when conducting unit-based educational sessions and the methods used by them to overcome those difficulties and to seek suggestions for improvement in the quality of the decentralized approach of in-service education. A questionnaire was developed for this study comprising open-ended questions regarding difficulties in conducting unit-based educational sessions and the methods used by them to overcome those difficulties. The content validity of the questionnaire was established through pilot studies. The content analysis method for nursing education based on the Berelson's method was used for analyzing the data. The questionnaire was mailed to 564 nurses in 37 hospitals. In total, 336 hospital nurses (59.6%) completed the questionnaire. Consequently, the difficulties encountered by hospital nurses were categorized into 19 categories and the methods they used by them to overcome these difficulties into 32 categories. The reliability of these was confirmed by agreement rates calculated using the Scott's formula, both of which were > 70%. Our results indicated that many hospital nurses face difficulties because of a lack of knowledge and experience in planning, implementing, and evaluating education programs. To overcome these difficulties, it is necessary for hospital nurses to autonomously learn about education and for nurse administrators to provide support for nurses. This study suggests the need to review the conventional educational sessions as in-service education.
