Comparison of the Effects of Role-Playing, Small Group Discussion, and Traditional Teaching Methods on Nursing Students’ Self-Efficacy

Abstract Background and Aim: Self-efficacy is a key component in developing professional readiness among nursing students. It plays a crucial role in enhancing clinical performance, decision-making quality, and self-confidence. Therefore, identifying and applying effective educational methods to improve this capability is one of the major challenges in nursing education systems. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of three teaching approaches—role-playing, small group discussion, and traditional instruction—on the self-efficacy of nursing students. Methods: This study was conducted as a semi-experimental study with three groups on 90 nursing students at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The samples were randomly assigned to three groups by drawing a red card (role-playing), a yellow card (group discussion), and a green card (role-playing). In the traditional education group, educational content was presented through lectures and PowerPoint presentations. In the group discussion group, students were divided into groups of 6. Each subgroup was given a clinical scenario related to the topic. The groups discussed and exchanged ideas about the scenario under the guidance of the facilitator. In the role-playing group, students were divided into groups of 4. Each group took on the roles of nurse, parent, child, and supervisor, and each group was given a structured clinical scenario related to the topic, and the students played the roles and acted out the scenarios. The data collection tool in this study was a clinical self-efficacy questionnaire that was completed by all students before and three months after the intervention. Results: The present study demonstrated the decisive superiority of active learning methods, especially role-playing, over traditional teaching in increasing the self-efficacy of nursing students. Role-playing, by creating a safe environment for practice, resulted in a 55.7% increase in self-efficacy (p<0.001, d=3.55) and improved students' professional confidence. Discussion group also improved with a 50.9% improvement (p=0.02), but traditional teaching only had a negligible increase of 0.8% (p=0.78). Conclusion: The findings suggest that using active and interactive teaching methods—especially role-playing—can effectively enhance nursing students’ self-efficacy. These results can be utilized in designing student-centered and participatory educational programs.