Effect of Permutated Teaching Approach Among an Adult Patient Group

Abstract

Background of the study:  Learning is an active process which demands expenditure of energy from the part of the student as well as the teacher to be successful and complete. Though the effort from the teacher is uniform towards the process, the reach and level of achievement of the students greatly vary. The reasons attributed for this variation can be an array, possibly from the age, level of maturity, motive behind education and personality traits. This was an attempt by the investigator to compare the learning styles of two groups of hypertensive patients belonging to different age groups

Methodology: Evaluative approach was utilised. A descriptive study was conducted among 60 patients with hypertension attending the cardiac OPD of a selected hospital in Chennai to assess their learning styles. Abdominal breathing technique was demonstrated to hypertensive patients to effect relaxation. To supplement the skill learning, the investigator chose between written instructions or audio taped instructions based on the learning styles of the individual patient. The practice scores of abdominal breathing technique of the patients was assessed after three days and the same was used to compare the strength of the specific learning styles.

Major findings: The success of the skill learning was comparable between the groups when supplemented by the suitable learning material of their taste. Young adults preferred auditory learning; middle aged people opted for kinaesthetic learning while old age learners chose auditory learning.

Conclusion: nurses can adopt  lecture type of teaching for aged learners and skill teaching methods for middle aged adults