Assessment of reflective writing teaching strategy on nursing students’ critical thinking skills

Abstract

Background Critical thinking (CT) is widely regarded as a crucial educational objective across all levels of education, particularly in nursing education. Although various teaching methods that promote CT have been documented in the nursing literature, only a limited number of these strategies have been assessed for evaluating the impact of the reflective writing as a teaching strategy on nursing students’ CT skills. Aim The study was done to assess if reflective writing strategy improved or affect CT skills among nursing students. Research questions Q1) How does the reflective writing teaching strategy affect the nursing students’ CT skills? Q2) What is the relation between the students’ characteristics and the CT skills? Design A descriptive correlational design. Setting The study was conducted in the Faculty of Nursing, British University in Egypt. Sample A purposive sample of 103 students. Tools Two tools were used. Students’ characteristics sheet and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) modified Arabic version A. The test was given twice, before the start of the reflective writing strategy, and after. Results A highly statistically significant difference between the total of nursing students ‘scores to the CT skills before being exposed to reflective writing and after being exposed with a P value of (< 0.001). Also, there was a statistically significant relationship between the problem-solving module scores and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test with a P value of (0.003). Conclusion Reflective writing teaching strategy improves CT skills. There was no relation between the demographic characteristics of the students and the CT skills as well as the academic characteristics except for the problem-solving scores. Recommendations Nursing students need strong CT skills to make up-to-date knowledge-based decisions regarding nursing management. Further research is necessary to find prerequisite courses to foster CT skills.