Critical thinking dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students and their educators: A cross-sectional analytical study

Abstract

Background: Critical thinking is an imperative outcome of nursing education. However, several factors contribute to the development of critical being including critical thinking dispositions (CTDs).
 Objective: This study aimed to assess the critical thinking dispositions and factors affecting critical thinking dispositions of BScN students and their educators in twin city Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan.
 Methodology: A cross- sectional analytical design was used in this study. A consecutive sample of 215 BScN students and 63 educators participated in the study. Data were collected via Pakistan-Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (P-CTDS) comprising 54 items under the seven constructs; responses were measured on 5-points Likert scale. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 22.
 Results: The findings showed that 52% of the educators were at the developed level of CTDs and nearly 48% at the developing level; whereas 76% students were inclined towards CTD and only 23% were found at the developed level of CTDs. Although with considerable difference in the scores of the 7 constructs, both, students and educators obtained highest scores on inquisitiveness and contextual perspective. Similarly, students and educators obtained low score on open-mindedness. The difference between students and their teachers was statistically significant for the total scores of CTDs as well as for the scores of six of seven constructs.
 Conclusion: Although educators exhibited stronger CTDs than their students, both have room for improvement, specifically their open mindedness. If educators are willing to challenge their personal assumptions, students will also emulate them.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of Bilingual English-Urdu Pakistani Critical Thinking Disposition Scale

“…This study is a secondary analysis from the baseline data from two studies 12 , 13 aimed to measure the CTDs of nursing students in Islamabad-Pakistan. Data collection completed during May 2018-2020.…”

Critical thinking dispositions’ level among neophyte nursing students

“…The CTDs scale comprised of 54-items under seven constructs including contextual perspective (5-items) denotes taking into account the complete picture of the situation in hand and its actual circumstances prior to making any decision; perseverance (7-items) means an individual's level of self-control and willpower to remain persistent, determined and firm to serve the purpose; reflection (7-items) is an individual's' insight awareness to evaluate, critique and correct own behaviors and actions; intellectual integrity/ truth-seeking (9-items) is an ability to be consistent being logical, rational, straight forward, moral, truthful, self-disciplined, and reliable while dealing with others and/or any situation; creativity (7-items) is an individuals' talent to do new things and thinking of innovative ideas; open-mindedness (10items) means aptitude to give space to accept others' point of view and customs; and inquisitiveness (9-items) is considered as the eagerness to explore the depth and breadth of the hidden knowledge to comprehend the truth. 11 Responses of the items were measured on 5-point Likert scale from 1-5 (1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3somewhat agree, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree). From the 54items, 42-items were positive and 12-items were negative.…”