The effectiveness of team-based learning in nursing education: A systematic review

Aim: Team-Based Learning (TBL) is an active teaching methodology, recently implemented also in the field of nursing education. The main objective of this study was to identify, appraise and summarize primary studies on the effectiveness of TBL in achieving learning outcomes in undergraduate nursing students. The secondary objective was to explore the generic competencies the students developed, and their reactions and attitudes. Study design: A systematic review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Databases sources: Cochrane Library, Pubmed/Medline, Cinahl, PsycINFO, and Eric; Google Scholar was used to search for grey literature and the reference lists of the retrieved papers. Review methods: A research protocol was developed according to the PRISMA-P guidelines. Two reviewers conducted the selection process. The “JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist” was used to check the quality of the selected studies. Results: We included 12 studies: 2 monocentric randomized controlled trials and 10 quasi-experimental studies. Nine out of 12 studies produced significant results in favour of TBL in terms of academic performance and skills development, however results were divergent when TBL was compared with other teaching methods. The results of 7 studies highlighted the effectiveness of TBL in improving the development of communication skills, interprofessional learning, and self-directed learning. Divergent results were obtained with regard to problem solving and critical thinking skills. TBL promoted classroom engagement, however it did not seem to be associated with better learning outcomes. Conclusions: Overall, TBL was found to be effective in achieving undergraduate nursing students’ learning outcomes, but evidence was not sufficiently strong to warrant that it is more effective than other teaching methods. The results of this review are in favour of the implementation of TBL in nursing education, however studies with more rigorous methods and with a mixed method design are required to improve the transferability of results.