Evaluating the effectiveness of the education programme developed for the empowerment of new graduate nurses

Method: The research was conducted between 15 December 2021 and 15 June 2023 in three phases: situation assessment for the empowerment of NRNs, development of the education programme and evaluation of the effectiveness of this programme. In the first stage of the research, a mixed-method study was carried out to assess the empowerment of the NRNs. In the quantitative part of the study, the "Situation Assessment Questionnaire for Empowerment", the Nursing Structural Empowerment Scale (CWEQ-II)" and the "Psychological Empowerment Scale (PEI)" were applied to 220 NRNs. Quantitative data analyses used descriptive, correlation and multiple regression tests. In the qualitative part, focus group interviews were conducted with 30 NRNs. The descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the qualitative data. In the second stage of the research, a training program consisting of two parts, online and face-to-face, was developed. Online education consists of eight modules implemented for two weeks. Face-to-face education was implemented for two days and included the applications of online education topics. In the last stage of the study, a randomized controlled experimental study was conducted with 32 experimental and 32 control groups with NRNs to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed education programme. Three months after the end of the education programme, " CWEQ-II and PEI" were re-applied to the experimental and control groups. Data analyses were used descriptive, chi-square and t-tests. Results: In the quantitative part of the study, the mean CWEQ-II score of the NRNs was found to be 17.78 ± 3.78, and the mean PEI score was found to be 44.01 ± 10.35, which is at a moderate level. According to the regression analysis, it was determined that there were seven independent variables explaining nurses' CWEQ-II levels at a rate of 69.5% and PEI levels at a rate of 66.6%. In the qualitative part, according to the descriptive analysis of the focus group interviews, three contexts, namely "power concept", "professional impression", and "empowerment process", and nine themes and 25 sub-themes belonging to the contexts were determined. According to the findings of the randomized controlled study, it was determined that the experimental and control groups showed homogeneous distribution in the first measurements. There was a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the mean scores of the CWEQ-II and PEI three months after the implementation of the education programme, and the total mean score of the experimental group was higher (p<0.05). Conclusions: The education programme developed for the empowerment of RNs was a highly effective practice in increasing nurses' perceptions of structural and psychological empowerment. There is a need to carry out studies and activities to disseminate this education programme. Keywords: Education programme, flipped education, nurse, new graduate, psychological empowerment, structural empowerment