Doctor of nursing practice (DNP)-prepared nurses should have competence in translating research in practice, evaluating practice improvement initiatives, and making practice decisions based on collected and analyzed outcome data.1 Nursing faculty at a private university recognized that DNP students enrolled in an online course focused on data-driven decision making lacked data analysis self-efficacy. In a related course assignment, students self-reported uncertainty about their ability to successfully meet the assignment requirements. To help students address their perceived capabilities, course faculty implemented a mindfulness-based educational strategy. This article describes the implementation and evaluation of this strategy.

Mindfulness-Based Educational Strategy

Mindfulness has been described as an appropriate pedagogical strategy to increase self-awareness and enhance cognition.2-6 From an educational perspective, an activity that is considered mindful requires students to pause and reflect in the present moment without focusing on the distractors of past or future events.2 Faculty can encourage focused reflection by developing a structured activity that requires students to follow a single task approach.3 Mindfully guiding students step-by-step through a series of single tasks decreases distractors, slows down the learning process, and encourages a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Implementation

Two weeks before the assignment was due, students were required to complete the first task of a self-assessment to identify their current perceived level of competence related to data analysis. To complete the assessment, students were directed to first think about the skills they believe are needed to perform data analysis. Then, students considered their ability to demonstrate the skills. Students posted their analysis as a focused reflective writing response in the week's discussion forum. They were instructed to complete the second task of reviewing 3 data analysis-related tutorials accessible on the university's intranet. Students self-selected the tutorials based on their individual assessment findings. Next, students completed the third task of posting a summary in the week's discussion forum outlining their knowledge and skills gained from the selected tutorials. Throughout the week, students completed the final task of exchanging focused reflective dialogue in the discussion forum.

Outcomes

Students' postings in the discussion forum revealed that completion of the mindfulness-based educational strategy had a positive influence on their data analysis self-efficacy. Students described a revised sense of data analysis competence, confidence in abilities to use the skills gained from the tutorials, and perceived readiness to complete the data analysis assignment.

Conclusion

Demonstrating competence in data analysis is an essential skill set of a DNP-prepared nurse. However, DNP students may lack data analysis self-efficacy and question their ability to meet a future role demand. Creating a learning environment that includes a mindfulness-based educational strategy can increase DNP students' self-awareness and enhance their self-efficacy beliefs. Mindfully guiding students through a series of single tasks encourages focused reflection, promotes self-awareness, and results in a comprehensive understanding of course topics.

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