Meta cognitive awareness and self-efficacy of nursing students and related factors

The aim of the study was determined metacognitive awareness, professional self-efficacy perception and related factors. The study was conducted as descriptive and cross-sectional. The data were obtained from nursing students studying in the nursing department of a private university in Istanbul between February and March 2019. The sample of the study consisted of 196 nursing students studying at this university and determined by convenience sampling method. MCQ-30 scale was used to measure metacognitive awareness and general self-efficacy scale was used to measure self-efficacy. The data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (IBM SPSS, Turkey) program. The mean age of the nursing students was 21.23 ± 1.66 and 81.9% were female. Self-efficacy scale scores of nursing students were 33.65 ± 9.89; "Positive beliefs" subscale scores of metacognitive awareness were 16.31 ± 6.47, "uncontrollability and danger"subscale scores were 17.29 ± 6.44, "cognitive confidence" subscale scores were 16.55 ± 7.12, "thought "subscale scores were 18.53 ± 7.66 and finally "cognitive awareness "subscale scores were 21.00 ± 3.94, and the metacognitive awareness scale scores were 89.69 ± 31.64. It was determined that "uncontrollable and danger", "cognitive trust" and "thought" sub-dimensions of metacognitive awareness was a predictor of self-efficacy perception. In conclusion, considering the responsibilities and roles of nurses in health services, it can be said that the high meta cognitive awareness and self-efficacy of nursing students at the beginning of the profession is important both for their own success and the quality of health services.