Background and Objective: Critical thinking is one of the most
important types of thinking and a necessary skill for accurate decision-making.
The aim of this study's to investigate and compare the critical thinking
disposition in various educational levels of medical students of Rafsanjan
University of Medical Sciences.
Materials
and Methods:In this
cross-sectional study Ricketts Critical Thinking Disposition
Inventory (CTDI) questionnaire accompanied by some demographic and educational
questions were used. The questionnaires were submitted to 250 students of whom
165 (66%) were finally returned the completed questionnaire. Data were analyzed
using statistical tests including Correlation, Student’s t and ANOVA.
Results:
The mean score of critical thinking
disposition in 165 students participating in our study was determined to be
equal to 11.22±1.31. The critical
thinking in male students was statistically higher than female ones (11.41±1.34
versus 10.94±1.21). There was a weak but significant reverse correlation
between critical thinking disposition score and students’ mean scores of passed
lessons (r=-0.156, p=0.045). Furthermore, mean scores
of the maturity and engagement subscales significantly differed in various
educational levels (p≤0.05 and p=0.02, respectively).
Conclusion: Critical thinking disposition
in medical students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences was relatively estimated
satisfactory, compared to many other Iranian
universities however it seems that the need for teaching and applying the
critical thinking skills is especially more imperative for internship students.
Key words: Critical thinking, Maturity, Engagement, Medical
students
Funding: This research was
funded by Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences.
Conflict of interest: None declared.
Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee
of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences
How to cite this article: Rezaeian M, Zare-Bidaki M, Bakhtar M,
Afsharmanesh K. Comparison of the Critical Thinking Skills among Medical Students in Different
Educational Levels in Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2013. J Rafsanjan Univ Med Sci
2014 13(9): 715-24. [Farsi]
Rights and permissions | |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |