A Randomised Educational Study Comparing Reading and Podcast Based Learning in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

Abstract

Preventive cardiology is central to contemporary cardiovascular care and relies on the effective implementation of evidence-based guidelines, which are often challenged by numerous barriers. Nurses play a key role in cardiovascular risk assessment, patient education, and long-term prevention. However, preventive cardiology is a guideline-dense field, and nursing students' engagement with preparatory reading materials is often limited. Podcasts have emerged as an alternative educational modality; however, evidence regarding their impact on objective knowledge acquisition in health-related education remains mixed.
Aim: To compare the learning impact of Podcast and reading-based educational resources on undergraduate nursing students' foundational knowledge of preventive cardiology in a randomised educational study.
Methods: A randomised educational study was conducted among undergraduate nursing students at the University of Malta (N = 122) and reported in accordance with the CONSORT 2010 principles, adapted for randomised educational research. Students were randomly allocated to a podcast intervention group or a reading-material control group (written transcript). All students completed a pre-test, engaged with their allocated preparatory learning resource, and completed a post-test in a moderated in-class session. Educational content was aligned with the 2021 European Society of Cardiology preventive cardiology guidelines and was time-equivalent across groups. Knowledge acquisition was assessed using a 50-item test. Within-group changes were analysed using paired t-tests, and post-intervention scores were compared between groups using Welch's t-test.
Results: Both groups demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge from pre-test to post-test (podcast group: t = 6.98, p < 0.001; reading group: t = 5.10, p < 0.001). Post-test scores were higher in the podcast group; however, the between-group difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.081).
Conclusion: Both podcast and reading-based preparatory learning significantly improved undergraduate nursing students' foundational knowledge of preventive cardiology. Podcasts represent a flexible, content-equivalent alternative to traditional reading materials for delivering guideline-based content within undergraduate nursing education.