Development of critical thinking skills of undergraduate students throughout the 4 years of nursing degree at a public university in Spain: a descriptive study

Objective To analyse the critical thinking skills of students enrolled in the four academic years of the nursing degree at a public university belonging to the European Higher Education Area. Design Cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive study. Using the Critical Thinking Questionnaire to analyse the critical thinking skills in their substantive and dialogic dimension. Setting Faculty of Nursing, Valladolid Public University in Spain, belonging to the European Higher Education Area. Participants The sample consisted of 215 first-year, second-year, third-year and fourth-year undergraduate nursing students. Main outcomes The students of the four academic years were positively disposed towards critical thinking. The students of the final courses obtained higher average scores. Results The study sample was 215 students, 19.1% men/80.9% women. The average score in the substantive dimension (3.81 +/- 0.53 points) was higher than that in the dialogic dimension (3.48 +/- 0.51 points) (p<0.001). They had a greater ability in listening and speaking (3.77 +/- 0.61 points) with respect to writing (3.65 +/- 0.61 points) and reading (3.52 +/- 0.43 points) (p<0.001). There are significant differences in the critical thinking average scores across academic years. Conclusions Nursing students displayed a greater critical thinking ability in its substantive dimension compared with the dialogic one. This reflects a greater ability in actions related to provide reasons and evidence that support their point of view. Identifying critical thinking skills in nursing students will help establish specific teaching methodologies focused on improving these skills.