Comparing the effects of problem-based learning and the traditional lecture method on critical thinking skills and metacognitive awareness in nursing students in a critical care nursing course☆
Introduction
In the rapidly advancing healthcare environment of the contemporary society, professional nurses (Kong et al., 2014) and nursing students need to develop their critical thinking skills as a way to prepare for greater expertise in flexible, individualized, situation-specific problem-solving (Klunklin et al., 2011, Kong et al., 2014). Accrediting agencies urge nursing education to present a curriculum that trains students with high levels of cognitive and metacognitive skills, such as critical and reflective thinking skills (Josephsen, 2014).
Section snippets
Literature Review
Critical thinking is a purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference (Hajrezayi et al., 2015). Critical thinking is a major component of the discipline of nursing as well as nursing education (Kong et al., 2014). Walsh and Seldomridge have confirmed the positive effects of critical thinking on the quality of care provided to patients (Burrell, 2014). A study conducted by Moghadam identified the relationship between fostering critical
Study Design
The present study is quasi-experimental, single-group and pre-test-post-test in design.
Study Subjects
All the 40 third-year undergraduate nursing students who had registered for the course of Critical Care Nursing at School of Nursing and Midwifery (in Khorramabad, the administrative town of Lorestan province in the west of Iran) in the second half of the academic year 2012–2013 were invited to take part in the study. These students met the study inclusion criteria, including having registered for the
Results
Of the total of 40 students, 62.5% (n = 25) were female and 37.5% (n = 15) were male, a total of 70.3% of whom were local to Lorestan province and 29.7% were not. The mean age of the study subjects was 21.89 ± 1.26 years. Their high school GPA was 17.61 ± 1.52 and their university GPA 15.57 ± 1.1. A total of eight students had previously participated in small-group learning settings in their second year at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, but none had recent experience of participation in
Discussion
The results of the present study showed the mean critical thinking and metacognitive awareness scores obtained before and after the lecture to be poor and to not have changed significantly. However, after performing the PBL, significant improvements were observed in the overall mean score of critical thinking and its sub-scales of deduction and evaluation and also in the overall mean score of metacognitive awareness in the nursing students surveyed. Previous studies have also shown that using
Conclusion
The present study showed a statistically significant effect for the PBL method on the development of critical thinking skills and metacognitive awareness in nursing students; however, the management of the class and the details of the implementation of PBL are essential for the further development of these skills. Nursing educators can utilize strategies such as concept mapping, questioning, dynamic group sessions, reflective writing, journaling and case-based interventions in their performing
Funding
This project was funded by the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences (1182), Khorramabad, Iran.
Financial Disclosure
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Conflict of Interest
The author reports no financial or other conflict of interest pertaining to the subjects or products discussed in this article.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the student participants in this research study.
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Type of study: a quasi-experimental, single group, pretest-posttest design.