Developing information literacy: A key to evidence-based nursing

Allison Shorten, M. C. Wallace, P. A. Crookes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

92 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This report describes the evaluation of a curriculum-integrated programme designed to help students develop an awareness of the nursing literature, the skills to locate and retrieve it, and skills required in its evaluation; in other words 'information literacy'. Positive changes in student performance on objective measures of information-literacy skills were revealed as well as a significant increase in the levels of confidence of the student in performing those skills. Students who had undertaken the information-literacy programme ('programme' students) performed better on a range of objective measures of information literacy, as well as reporting higher levels of confidence in these skills, than students who had not participated in the programme ('non-programme' students). Evaluation of this programme provides evidence of the potential usefulness of a curriculum-integrated approach for the development of information-literacy skills within nursing education. With these underlying skills, students will be better equipped to consolidate and extend their key information-literacy skills to include research appreciation and application. These are vital for effective lifelong learning and a prerequisite to evidence-based practice.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)86-92
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Nursing Review
Volume48
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2001
Externally publishedYes

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