The effect of digital storytelling on nursing students' compliance with isolation precautions and their knowledge levels: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Digital storytelling is a teaching tool that can help nursing students master the curriculum and improve their skills. This study investigated the effect of digital storytelling on nursing students' knowledge levels and compliance with isolation precautions. Methodology: A pretest‐posttest open‐label randomized controlled trial. This study was conducted in the nursing department of the faculty of health sciences of a university in Türkiye. The sample consisted of 109 fourth‐year nursing students divided into experimental (n = 66) and control (n = 43) groups. Data were collected using a Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire (DCQ), the Isolation Knowledge Test (IKT), the Questionnaire of Students' Opinions on Digital Storytelling (QSODS) and the Scale of Compliance with Isolation Precautions (SCIP). The experimental group participated a digital storytelling activity, whilst the control group received an education based on the curriculum. The data were analysed using the Mann–Whitney U test, the Wilcoxon test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the Spearman correlation test. Results and Conclusions: The experimental group had significantly higher posttest IKT and SCIP scores than the control group (p < 0.05). Both groups had lower IKT and SCIP scores 2 months after the experiment. However, the change was much smaller in the experimental group. Digital storytelling helped the experimental group participants learn about isolation precautions and how to comply with them. Digital storytelling also promotes learning retention. In conclusion, digital tools are effective in distance learning. Practitioner Notes: What is already known about this topic: Storytelling, known as an extracurricular learning method, has begun to be used in nursing education.There are digital methods that improve not only the knowledge level of students but also their skills.In skill‐focused departments, digital learning tools that enable students to learn without entering the laboratory are effective. What this paper adds: Digital storytelling integrated into face‐to‐face learning provide learning retention.Digital storytelling allows students to have fun and learn wherever and whenever they want.It ensures the permanence of knowledge and skills. Implications for practice and/or policy: It is recommended to be frequently used in nursing skills training.It is important to integrate it into the curriculum in skill‐based education departments.Using methods that will ensure active participation of students will provide privileges in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]