Image: Dr. Sachiko Terui's "An mHealth Communication Training Resource for (BSN) Nursing Students: The Comfort Communication App" paper is receiving a Top Paper award in Top Papers in Training, Development, and Learning Division. Congratulations on this award! Read below for an abstract on the paper. There is a critical demand for free educational resources and nursing faculty support for communication training in undergraduate nursing curriculum. the majority of nurses are not prepared to engage in communication about serious illnesses (Hart et al., 2020), and many report experiencing anxiety over rapidly changing information and communication challenges caused by the pandemic. Mobile technology such as smartphone applications (apps) are often used by healthcare providers for continuing medical education, knowledge assessment tests, board exam preparation, e-learning and teaching, and case studies. COMFORT-based Health Communication (App) was updated, the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to rebuild the content with materials that reflect COVID-19 lessons learned from the frontline experiences of patients, family, and providers. This study was to examine nursing students' perspectives on and assessments of the Comfort Communication App, specifically usability and acceptability. A mixed method study of 91 undergraduate BSN nursing students assessed the App for its usability using the System Usability Scale and its acceptability with narrative responses. SUS converted responses produced a grade of 'A' for the resource. The three highest frequency selections (Connect, Family Caregiver, and COVID-19) reflect students' primary communication concerns in courses and clinicals---building connections with patents, families, and navigating the exceptional communication demands on nurses during pandemic peaks. Student acceptability themes reflected the content proffered in the device, and consistently demonstrated alignment with nurse communication needs in coursework and clinical rotations. Themes of nursing student expectations and desires in training are described in relation to app content areas. Author Sachiko Terui, University of Georgia Co-Author(s) Joy V. Goldsmith, University of Memphis Elaine Wittenberg, California State University Los Angeles Y'Esha Williams, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Regina Ogechi Alabere, University of Memphis Type of News/Audience: Department Award
