Evaluation of the clinical self-efficacy of postgraduate midwifery students who took courses related to biochemistry: a cross-sectional study

Objectives Postgraduate midwifery students learn the science and art of midwifery in clinical settings through the integration of evidence-based knowledge, practical skills, quality of care, and personal attitudes. These personal attitudes are confidence, intuition, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-efficacy. This study's goal was to evaluate the clinical self-efficacy of midwifery students who took courses related to biochemistry in the postgraduate education program. Methods A cross-sectional design was used in the study. In the study, data collection was performed using surveys from students in the postgraduate midwifery education program. The study data were collected by employing the "Introductory Information Form" and the "Self-efficacy for Clinical Evaluation Scale." Data evaluation was performed by number, percentage, mean, and correlation test. Results It was revealed that 67.7% of midwifery students who took the courses were postgraduate students in the thesis stage, 41% of them worked in secondary health services, and 51.6% of them had a clinical experience of 5 years and more. The total score of the self-efficacy perception subscale was 4.22 +/- 0.49 (1-5), whereas the total score of the perceived confidence subscale was 4.57 +/- 0.45 (1-5). There was a statistically significant correlation between the self-efficacy subscale and the importance subscale. Conclusions The results indicated that postgraduate midwifery students had high clinical self-efficacy scores. We think that the elective courses related to biochemistry in the postgraduate midwifery education program may have positively affected their clinical skills. We anticipate that it will be appropriate to conduct research with a larger sample size to examine the effect of postgraduate midwifery education on students' clinical self-efficacy.