Video and OSCE Teaching Associated With Higher Prenatal Counseling Self-Efficacy

Nursing–midwifery students who completed a combined intervention using modeling videos and Objective Structured Clinical Examination-based teaching reported higher self-efficacy in prenatal nutrition counseling. In a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study in northern Taiwan, the students’ mean score on a study-specific nutrition counseling scale rose from 31.6 ± 5.8 before the intervention to 36.0 ± 5.4 afterward, a statistically significant within-group change reported as p < 0.001. The finding concerns students’ confidence in performing counseling tasks, not measured changes in pregnant women’s diets, gestational weight gain or pregnancy outcomes.

The study recruited 49 nurse-midwifery students between September 2024 and August 2025. All 49 completed both the pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires, and no participants were lost to follow-up. Researchers used a sequential explanatory design: quantitative measurements were collected before and after the teaching intervention, and focus-group interviews were then conducted to explore students’ learning experiences and help explain the quantitative findings.

Self-efficacy was assessed with the Nutrition Care Self-Efficacy Scale, which was developed for this study. It contains 10 items, each rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1, meaning “very difficult,” to 5, meaning “very easy.” The total score is 50, with higher values indicating greater perceived self-efficacy in prenatal nutrition counseling. The primary outcome was the change in this scale score following exposure to the modeling videos and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination, or OSCE, which was incorporated into the curriculum as a structured teaching and assessment component.

The combined intervention was followed by statistically significant within-group improvements in several areas covered by the scale. These included confidence in understanding pregnant women’s daily nutritional requirements, explaining the recommended range of gestational weight gain, answering nutrition-related questions during pregnancy, discussing healthy food choices, using hand-based portion measures, checking food labels and helping pregnant women make appropriate food substitutions. These were reported as improvements in students’ self-efficacy rather than direct observations of counseling quality.

The pre/post findings were therefore consistent across the overall scale and several task-specific areas. As a result, the observed increase cannot be assigned entirely to the combined teaching intervention. The research does not establish how the modeling video and OSCE components performed separately, and it does not show whether similar changes would occur in other groups of students.

Focus-group interviews added a qualitative account of the students’ learning experiences. The researchers identified three themes in these interviews, although the supplied research summary does not describe the content of those themes. The interviews were intended to explain and contextualize the quantitative results rather than provide a separate estimate of how much the intervention caused the increase in self-efficacy.

The study’s population and outcome also limit the scope of its conclusions. All participants were nurse-midwifery students in northern Taiwan, and the primary endpoint was a self-efficacy instrument developed for the project. The findings demonstrate a change in students’ reported confidence after the educational package, but they do not demonstrate improved routine clinical performance, better maternal health behaviors or better pregnancy outcomes.

The study also does not establish that the measured improvement would persist beyond the assessment conducted after the intervention. On the basis of the mixed-methods results, the authors concluded that integrating modeling videos with an OSCE-based curriculum may improve nursing–midwifery students’ confidence in nutrition counseling during prenatal medical visits. The strongest supported claim is that participation in the combined teaching intervention was associated with a statistically significant increase in measured counseling self-efficacy among the 49 students studied.

Whether the intervention produces changes in actual counseling performance or clinical outcomes remains unestablished by the reported research.

Subject of Research: Pre-post mixed-methods evaluation of video and OSCE teaching for prenatal nutrition counseling self-efficacy among nursing–midwifery students

Article Title: A mixed-methods study of a combined modeling video and OSCE-based teaching intervention for prenatal nutrition counseling self-efficacy among nursing–midwifery students

Article References: Chen, T.-L., Kuo, C.-L., Gau, M.-L., Weng, C.-S., Cheng, S.-F., & Yang, S.-H. (2026). A mixed-methods study of a combined modeling video and OSCE-based teaching intervention for prenatal nutrition counseling self-efficacy among nursing–midwifery students. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10380-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10380-x

Keywords: nursing–midwifery education, prenatal nutrition, nutrition counseling, self-efficacy, modeling videos, OSCE, mixed-methods research, Taiwan, mixed-methods, combined, modeling, video