2016 Assessing Critical Thinking Dispositions among Students of Nursing Faculty

Abstract

SUMMARY T he need for critical thinking in nursing has been accentuated in response to the rapidly changing health care environment. The disposition toward critical thinking was considered crucial to a good critical thinker, as a requisite of the core cognitive skills. The ideal critical thinker is" habitually inquisitive, well informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, willing to reconsider, diligent in seeking relevant information. This study aimed to assess nursing students’ critical thinking dispositions, and compare nursing students’ critical thinking dispositions of different academic years. This descriptive, comparative study was conducted at Faculty of Nursing- which affiliated to Ain Shams University in the different academic years. The sample included all nursing student enrolled in the Faculty of Nursing at the academic year 2012-2013. The total number was 300 nurse students out from 737 by stratified proportional random sample technique. The data were collected using California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) developed by Facione and Facione (2006). A pilot study was conducted on 30 nurse students and the tool was finalized accordingly. The fieldwork lasted from beginning of November 2012 to the end of December 2012 and from the beginning of March 2013 to the end of March 2013. Data were collected 2 days/ week.

The main study findings were as follows: Students’ age ranged between 18 and 24 years, with 58% from urban areas, and 75.7% secondary school education - Undergraduate nursing students at four academic years had achieved the highest mean score was in “truth seeking and Open-mindedness”. Meanwhile, the lowest mean scores in the dispositional level characteristics of “self-confidence and cognitive maturity”. - Less than half of the nursing students showed positive disposition towards critical thinking regardless of their academic years. - No statistical significant differences were found in mean scores of CTD all undergraduate nursing students. - The mean scores of the first year students were the highest in the critical thinking disposition scores among all nursing students. Based on study findings these recommendations are suggested: - A critical thinking profile of each student at the beginning of nursing programmed in their assessment plans should formulated and Periodical follow up for nursing students about critical thinking dispositions through teachers, peers, and self-feedback. - A training program should be designed for nursing teachers about teaching strategies needed and how to use these strategies in effective ways for developing critical thinking dispositions of nursing students. - Nursing educators should modeling positive critical thinkers as well as students nursing could act as role models for each others. - Nursing curriculum should be revised to meet the opportunities of critical thinking practices. - Incorporate critical thinking into all levels of nursing curriculum and perceiving critical thinking as an independent unit to be taught as a subject in a curriculum.