Critical thinking of baccalaureate nursing students : its assessment and relationship to academic achievement / Elizabeth S. Baldrias 6

Thesis (M.A.) -- Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Manila, 2007;A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of Health Sciences in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Arts in Nursing 56

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ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to assess the critical thinking of some 228 Laguna College junior nursing students in terms of its core skills such as interpretation, inference, analysis, evaluation, explanation and self-regulation; and to determine its relationship, if any, to academic achievement. The measuring tool was a self-developed Clinical Scenario-Based Critical Thinking Skills Test (CS-CTST) which utilized nine (9) specific clinical situations where students' proficiency in each of the core skills was demonstrated through their responses to 54 multiple-choice questions. Frequency counts and percentages were determined to present the students' gender, age and academic profile in terms of their Related Learning Experience (RLE) grades and general weighted averages (GWA). Mean scores reflecting the respondents' performance in ever critical thinking sub-skill and in each of the CS-CTST clinical scenarios provided the means for identifying their weaknesses and strengths. Relationships were determined and analyzed with the use of Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient. T-test was employed to test for significance (at 0.05 significance level) the correlation found and the differences in the data obtained between the male and female respondents. The results showed that the male and female respondents had different weaknesses and strength with respect to critical thinking sub-skills. The two groups, however, revealed the same weakest skill (interpretation) and the same strongest skill (self-regulation). The hypothesis was rejected relative to analysis, inference and self-regulation where significant differences were observed. Different proficiency levels were also demonstrated by both groups in the nine clinical settings. Significant differences were noted between them in five clinical situations; thus, rejecting hypothesis relative to nursing profession, decision-making clinical reasoning, patient education and risk assessment; and accepting it relative to the remaining four. For both groups, the lowest critical thinking proficiency level was shown in decision-making; the highest was in vital signs assessment. A significant moderate linear relationship was noted between the RLE-based academic achievement and critical thinking ability of the males, females and the whole class; thus rejecting the study's hypothesis. The same relationship was observed between the GWA and the CT ability of he male group and of the whole class. However, there was significant marked correlation noted between the females' GWA and their over-all critical thinking ability.

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