The Effect of "NurseLead in Progress" Game on the Development of Transformational Leadership Behaviors of Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

Study Design The study is planned as a parallel group randomized controlled study to determine the effect of the "NurseLead in Progress" computer game on subjective and objective leadership measurement. At the end of the study, it is aimed to evaluate the effect of getting the leadership course only to combining it to a role-playing involved gameplay. The experiment will not measure the effectiveness of the game intervention, but its efficacy under ideal conditions. In this context, an explanatory design will be used. Since the number of participants was previously calculated in the light of reference articles, a fixed design will be used in terms of the number of participants. CONSORT 2024 will be used for reporting the research.

Settings and Participants The course and the game intervention will take place in the office of a nursing union, a central location based in Ankara/Türkiye. The population is the nursing students in Ankara/Türkiye as well. In Ankara, there are 4 public and 6 private universities that gives 4 years BSN education and total number of nursing students is nearly 5000. Based on the lowest effect size in the reference articles (Foli et al, 2014; Marath & Ramachandra, 2015) it was calculated that there should be 18 students in the groups with a ratio of n intervention/ n control=1 to provide 80% power, 0.99 effect size (Cohen's) and 2.5% Type I error (One-way hypothesis) in order to compare two independent group averages. In order to reach the largest sample size to test all hypotheses, it was planned to include 25 students each in the intervention and control groups with an estimated 25% dropout rate in the groups, considering the long-term data collection phase and the variability in motivation to participate in extracurricular activities. The inclusion and exclusion criteria is mentioned elsewhere. The nursing students meet the inclusion criteria will be informed about the purpose, content and method of the study and the sample group (experimental and control) will be formed by obtaining written permission from those who voluntarily agree to participate in the study. Determination of the experimental and control groups will be provided by https://www.randomizer.org/ website.

Instruments Author prepared Introductory Information Form will be used to investigate baseline comparisons. Author-prepared Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership Achievement Test (5PELAT) will be used to collect objective data on the leadership development. In addition, Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI), by Kouzes and Posner will be used to collect nursing students' perspective on their leadership development.

The Introductory Information form consists of two parts. The first part includes 10 questions about students' individual and academic characteristics and the second part includes 10 questions about their participation in professional activities.

Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership Achievement Test consists of 10 questions, each with five options, on a sample scenario, analyzed according to the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership model. It will be administered to all participants in the pre-test and post-test in order to provide an objective assessment of the change in leadership behaviors. The questions have been prepared together with experts and finalized with the opinions of a widely participated expert panel.