ABSTRACT
Background: Forensic science has become increasingly relevant to health professionals' roles in preserving trace evidence when crimes have been committed.
Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of a structured intervention to improve nursing students' knowledge of forensic nursing practices.
Methods: A pretest/posttest quasi-experimental study, without a control group, was conducted. A nonprobabilistic sample of students from the third and fourth years of a nursing degree program took part in the study. The General Questionnaire on Forensic Nursing and the Questionnaire on Knowledge of Forensic Nursing Practices were administered before and after a structured intervention.
Results: Eighty-seven students (mean age of 22.8 +/- 3.9 years) took part in the study. Of the participants, 85.7% were female, 98.8% claimed they had not received training in forensic nursing during their degree, and 97.6% reported that they did not have contact with situations that involved the collection and preservation of forensic evidence during their internships. As for their knowledge of forensic practices, out of a total of 74 questions, the number of right answers after the course (69.15 +/- 3.05) was higher than the result obtained previously (62.95 +/- 4.47). The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.01), leading to the conclusion that the structured intervention was effective in improving knowledge of forensic nursing practices.
Conclusion: The results demonstrated the importance of specific training in forensic nursing and support the conclusion that a curricular unit in this area should be developed for inclusion in nursing degree curricula.