{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T04:45:47Z","timestamp":1792125947353,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,19]],"date-time":"2025-09-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758240000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nursing Reports"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: During the past decade, incorporating innovative teaching strategies for active learning, such as the use of escape rooms (ERs), has effectively contributed to the acquisition of the necessary skills. This study aimed to assess students\u2019 opinions, engagement, and gameful experience, and to analyse the impact of engagement and gameful experience on students\u2019 opinions about ER activity. Methods: This descriptive-analytical, quantitative, and interventional cross-sectional study was conducted among first-year nursing students enrolled in the Nursing Fundamentals course. The ER activities took place in a faculty classroom. The measure included a questionnaire for assessing students\u2019 opinions about ER activity, engagement while learning through play, and the Gameful Experience Scale. Results: The students reported very positive opinions on the outcomes of escape room activities. According to the students\u2019 perception, solving puzzles required a high level of cognitive, emotional, physical, and other engagement. The experience of learning through play contributed to their increased enjoyment, absorption, and creative thinking, with a low level of negative effects and dominance. Enjoyment, immersion, and creative thinking during the gameful experience explained 49.0% of the variance in students\u2019 opinions on ER activity. Conclusions: ER enabled students to consolidate knowledge from various fields within one lesson, encouraging them to be highly engaged and think creatively, giving them a sense of enjoyment in learning and motivation for further learning.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nursrep15090343","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,19]],"date-time":"2025-09-19T10:08:58Z","timestamp":1758276538000},"page":"343","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Escape Room in Nursing Fundamentals Course: Students\u2019 Opinions, Engagement, and Gameful Experience"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2595-894X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dragana","family":"Simin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Ple\u0107a\u0161 \u0110uri\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5768-8668","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Branimirka","family":"Aran\u0111elovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9391-2938","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dragana","family":"\u017divkovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2693-543X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dragana","family":"Milutinovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"366","DOI":"10.1080\/0142159X.2021.1909715","article-title":"Twelve tips for creating an escape room activity for medical education","volume":"44","author":"Davis","year":"2022","journal-title":"Med. 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