Development and Testing of an Instrument to Assess Problem-Solving Behavior of Baccalaureate Students

An instrument for testing baccalaureate nursing students' ability to make decisions and solve problems was developed for use in the experimental curriculum at the University of California at San Francisco. In 12 sections, the test followed the sequence of a patient's experience from the lime of his arrival at the emergency room through a period of time after his return to his own home. The test had two parts: in a controlled response section a set of alternative actions were listed from which the student chose a preferred action; in a free response section a problem was presented for the student to solve. Five scoring systems were developed. Results from administering the test to 1966 (control class), 1967, 1968, and 1969 (experimental classes) graduates are presented. Analysis of variance revealed that, as hypothesized, the later classes had significantly higher scores on certain criterion measures.