comparing efficacy of implementing two teaching methods contract learning and traditional instruction on clinical skills of nursing students in psychiatric wards of hospitals of tehran

background and purpose: a learning contract is defined as a written agreement between teacher and student which makes explicit what a learner will do to achieve specified learning outcomes. learning contracts have been used as a teaching and learning strategy for both undergraduate and graduate nursing students in many countries. methods : this research is a quasi-experimental study that compares effect of two different teaching methods, contract learning and traditional on clinical skills for a group of nursing students who were in fourth year of study in a pre-registration bachelor of nursing degree program in tehran. a learning contract was implemented as a learning tool in the students clinical placement in psychiatric nursing. data were connected from questionnaires , interviews and clinical evaluation papers with students . results : the results showed that students agreed that there was an increase in students autonomy and motivation in learning with the use of learning contract . it also increased the sharing between students and clinical instructors. conclusion : according to the findings of this study, contract learning is considered beneficial to students learning and has the potential to be used in clinical learning.