Abstract
Background: The area of nursing sciences is rapidly growing and updating. This is a necessity to graduate nurses who have the talent of self-directed learning and to incorporate this talent with her learning style. For any professional nurse, continues self-development through self-directed learning is the milestone of her excellence. Consequently, this will be reflected in the quality of nursing care. Aim: To investigate the relationship between learning style and readiness for self-directed learning among nursing students at Najran University. Research design: Descriptive correlational research design. Setting: Nursing colleges at Najran University. Study participants: comprehensive sample of all nursing students registered on the nursing program during the second semester 2019. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection: Sociodemographic and academic history questionnaire, a modified version of C.I.T.E instrument to asses learning styles, and Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale for Nursing Education. Results: Auditory-Visual-Kinesthetic and social individuals were major learning styles among 87.3% and 84.8% of the nursing student, respectively. Furthermore, 79.2% of them have high readiness for self-directed learning. The mean score for self-control (40.7919 +/- 5.81977) is higher than self-management (39.1371 +/- 6.04123) and desire for learning (40.7919 +/- 5.81977) was the last one. A statistically significant relationship between different learning styles and RSDL total score and its constructs was observed. Conclusion: The largest proportions of nursing students at Najran University have high readiness for self-directed learning which is related to the common learning styles among them. Efforts should be directed to enhance self-directed learning among them.