Participants in the intervention group will receive nursing process education supported by digital storytelling within the Nursing Fundamentals I course. A digital story developed by the research team will present a single clinical scenario illustrating the stages of the nursing process, including assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Students will watch the digital story and participate in guided discussions to analyze the presented clinical situation and apply the nursing process in a structured manner. The digital storytelling approach is intended to promote reflective learning, contextual understanding of the patient situation, and the development of clinical reasoning skills. Assessments will be conducted before the intervention, immediately after the educational sessions, and three months later to evaluate nursing process knowledge, competency, and clinical reasoning outcomes.

Participants assigned to the intervention group will receive nursing process education supported by digital storytelling within the Nursing Fundamentals I course. A digital story developed by the research team will present a single clinical scenario illustrating the stages of the nursing process, including assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Students will watch the digital story, participate in guided discussions, and analyze the presented scenario to apply the nursing process in a structured manner. This approach aims to promote reflective learning, contextual understanding of the patient situation, and the development of clinical reasoning skills. Educational activities will be conducted during scheduled course sessions as part of the nursing process training.

Change in nursing students' knowledge of the nursing process measured using the Nursing Process Knowledge Test.The student knowledge test consists of 25 multiple-choice questions designed to assess knowledge related to the nursing process. Each correct answer is scored as 4 points and incorrect answers receive 0 points, resulting in a total possible score ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate a higher level of knowledge. It is expected that students who participate in the digital storytelling-based educational intervention will demonstrate an increase in knowledge scores compared with their baseline scores.

The Nursing Process Competency Scale (NPCS) is a 24-item instrument comprising five subscales: Data Collection (items 1-4), Patient Problem/Nursing Diagnosis (items 5-9), Planning (items 10-14), Implementation (items 15-21), and Evaluation (items 22-24). Responses are recorded on a five-point Likert scale (1 = I do not trust myself at all, 2 = I do not trust myself, 3 = I feel I need more practice, 4 = I trust myself, 5 = I feel competent in this skill), with no cut-off points or reverse-scored items. Subscale scores are calculated by dividing the total score by the number of items, resulting in mean scores ranging from 1 to 5, where higher scores indicate greater competency in the nursing process.

Change in students' clinical reasoning skills evaluated using the Clinical Reasoning Assessment Rubric applied to the nursing process case analysis. The Clinical Reasoning Rubric is an assessment tool developed to evaluate students' clinical reasoning skills. The rubric is structured into eight categories based on the five stages of the nursing process. Content and face validity of the rubric were established qualitatively, resulting in a clear and practical set of criteria for evaluating clinical reasoning performance. The rubric is used to systematically assess students' clinical reasoning during the nursing process.

Students' motivation regarding the instructional material will be evaluated using the Instructional Materials Motivation Scale (IMMS). This scale is a unidimensional 14-item instrument with no reverse-scored items and is specifically designed to measure users' motivation in relation to a single instructional material or application. Higher total or mean scores reflect a greater degree of positive motivation toward the evaluated material.