Nurses' Perspectives on Acquiring Play-Based Competence Through an Online Course: A Focus Group Study in Brazil

The main stage of developing an educational health technology is meeting the expectations of users. Nurses in Brazil can benefit from online training about therapeutic play interventions. This study identified the learning demands of nurses for acquiring competence in the use of therapeutic play to build an online course. Focus groups study, guided by the COREQ guidelines. Nurses experienced in pediatric care participated in eight groups held in hospitals across all Brazilian regions in 2018. The focus group interviews had a mean duration of two hours and were moderated by the main researcher and an observer, both of whom were nurses experienced in qualitative research. All interviews were audio recorded. The transcripts of the audios were coded, from which the themes were developed, and thematic analysis performed. Nurses (N = 53, 8.5 ± 6.3 years of experience in pediatric care) reported their learning demands in three themes: “Learning theoretical concepts”, “Developing therapeutic play skills”, and “Learning the therapeutic play in a fun, interactive and motivational online environment”. Nurses learning demands involve theoretical concepts and skills to implement therapeutic play through an interesting online course. By developing play-based competence through an online learning environment nurses can feel confident in implementing therapeutic play into their pediatric practice, setting the stage for a future of positive interaction between nurses and children in pediatric health care. •Listening nurses' needs is an important step towards training success.•Nurses in Brazil can benefit from training about therapeutic play interventions.•Nurses identified the value of learning and developing the play-based competence.•Learning demands include theoretical concepts and skills about therapeutic play.•Nurses want to develop the play-based competence through a motivating online course.