Measuring critical thinking in pre-registration midwifery students: A multi-method approach

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Midwifery Practice
• Healthcare Professional Development

Background:

• Critical thinking is essential for effective midwifery practice.
• Existing tools for assessing critical thinking in midwifery students may be limited.
• Developing reliable and valid assessment tools is crucial for educational programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the concurrent validity of three newly developed instruments designed to measure critical thinking in midwifery students.
• To assess the reliability and validity of student self-rating, preceptor rating, and reflective writing tools for critical thinking assessment.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive matched cohort design was employed with 55 undergraduate midwifery students at an Australian university.
• Data were collected using a student self-assessment tool, a preceptor rating tool, and academic assessment of student reflective writing.
• Internal reliability and concurrent validity were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, correlations, t-tests, and multiple regression.

Main Results:

• All three critical thinking assessment tools exhibited good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.93–0.97).
• Moderate correlations were found between the different assessment methods (student/preceptor r=0.36, student/reflective writing r=0.38, preceptor/reflective writing r=0.30).
• Preceptor ratings predicted Grade Point Average, and student self-ratings predicted year level.

Conclusions:

• The student self-rating, preceptor rating, and reflective writing tools are reliable and valid measures of critical thinking in midwifery practice.
• These tools can be used individually or combined to provide formative feedback for students.
• Further validation with larger and diverse samples is recommended.