Effects of attributional retraining on writing performance and perceived competence of Taiwanese university nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Attributional retraining (AR) has been applied in various professional fields. The application of AR in nursing education is rarely seen. OBJECTIVES: This study explores the effects of AR on university nursing students' writing performance, perceived competence, and the relationship between writing performance and perceived competence using a blended platform of online and face-to-face approaches. METHODS: A single-group experimental study was used. A total of 187 students participated in this study. The setting was the two-year vocational nursing course in a university. The Scale for Rating Composition Tasks and the Perceived Competence Scale were used before and after the AR intervention. RESULTS: The students' writing performance showed significant improvement after the intervention. AR had effectively influenced the students' perceived competence. The perceived competence of the students interacted with the writing performance improvements after the AR intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The AR intervention suggests an alternative teaching approach that can help enhance students' English writing performance as well as perceived competence. The AR programme may be applied in English language teaching and professional courses.