Using a Writing Scaffold to Support Nurse Educator Students’ Writing

AIM: The aim of the study was to determine if using a writing scaffold influenced nurse educator students' self-assessed use of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) of scholarly writing. BACKGROUND: According to sociocultural theory, scaffolding instruction supports learners. However, the impact of a writing scaffold on graduate nursing students' writing development is unclear. METHOD: A retrospective, longitudinal design was used to examine change in 65 Master of Science Nurse Educator students' self-assessed use of the KSAs of scholarly writing after using a writing scaffold for 4 and 10 weeks. RESULTS: One-way repeated measures analysis of variance indicates significant increases in the self-assessed use of the KSAs of scholarly writing after using the scaffold for 10 weeks. CONCLUSION: Academic nurse educators can use a writing scaffold within and across curricula to increase students' use of the KSAs of scholarly writing, which can foster writer competence and future author development.