The students in this group worked with a Turkish chatbot based on a large language model (such as ChatGPT). The chatbot was positioned as a virtual patient assuming the role of "mother" in the training scenario. Thus, students conducted the counseling session by engaging in a natural dialogue with an AI. By generating context-sensitive responses and providing appropriate reactions to the counseling messages the students sent, the AI enabled students to practice their communication and counseling skills in a realistic setting.

In this group, students formed small pairs or trios to act out the scenarios. By taking turns switching roles, they played the role of "mother" one time and the role of "counselor" the next. This allowed them to both practice their counseling skills and view the counseling process from the "mother's" perspective.

In this group, students learned about the same topics through brief instructional presentations, case studies, and question-and-answer sessions. However, this training did not include practical role-playing exercises or one-on-one coaching. Consequently, a traditional training method focused primarily on knowledge transfer was applied to this group.

The students in this group worked with a Turkish chatbot based on a large language model (such as ChatGPT). The chatbot was positioned as a virtual patient assuming the role of "mother" in the training scenario. Thus, students conducted the counseling session by engaging in a natural dialogue with an AI. By generating context-sensitive responses and providing appropriate reactions to the counseling messages the students sent, the AI enabled students to practice their communication and counseling skills in a realistic setting.

Developed by Dennis (2003) for use with breastfeeding mothers, the scale was revised by Blackman et al. and validated in Turkish by Bayri Bingöl et al. (2025). The scale is a 4-point Likert-type measure consisting of 37 items with response options of "Very easy," "Easy," "Difficult," and "Very difficult." Higher scores on the scale indicate higher self-efficacy in breastfeeding counseling. In the Turkish validity and reliability study of the scale, the total Cronbach's alpha value was 0.97. Permission to use the scale in our study was obtained from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fadime BAYRI BİNGÖL.

This assessment tool is a structured rubric developed to measure nursing students' breastfeeding counseling skills. The rubric aims to comprehensively evaluate students' cognitive, affective, and psychomotor competencies during role-play exercises based on a mastitis case scenario. The criteria cover seven key dimensions: communication and empathy, data collection and clinical assessment, educational role, problem-solving and guidance, professional attitude, time management, and reflection.

Each dimension is scored using three-level behavioral indicators (high=3, moderate=2, low=1) that qualitatively describe the student's performance. The total score obtained in the rubric reflects the student's overall competence regarding the breastfeeding counseling process (High level: 18-21, moderate level: 13-17, low level: ≤12). In determining the criteria, clinical skill and communication-based assessment tools found in the nursing education literature were taken into consideration. The rubri