Abstract
Background: Prelicensure nursing students experience high anxiety as they enter the clinical setting, which can have a negative impact on learning care performance and critical thinking. This study explored the viability of an innovative technological teaching strategy, augmented reality (AR), as a platform to prepare students and decrease their anxiety levels when entering a new environment. Method: A pretest/posttest quasiexperimental design was used to assess the effect of AR 360 photosphere on prelicensure nursing students' anxiety levels as they entered a new clinical environment compared with anxiety levels of prelicensure nursing students who participated in the traditional faculty-led orientation method. Results: Students from three midwestern colleges of nursing completed the State Trait Anxiety Inventory before and after completing the AR 360 photosphere orientation or a faculty-led orientation. An independent t test revealed no difference in students' anxiety levels between the two methods of orientation. Conclusion: Although there were no significant differences in nursing students' anxiety levels between the two methods of clinical orientation, the AR 360 can be a valuable method of orientation that saves faculty time and ensures more consistent and uniform content compared with the traditional faculty orientation method.