The mediating role of critical thinking between AI literacy and learning burnout in nursing students using generative...

Learning burnout hinders nursing students' academic and professional development. Despite the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, the mediating role of critical thinking between AI literacy and learning burnout remains unclear in nursing education.

This study aims to explore the relationships among AI literacy, learning burnout and critical thinking, and to investigate whether critical thinking mediates the relationship between AI literacy and learning burnout in nursing undergraduates using generative AI tools.

A cross-sectional descriptive study.

A convenience sample of 617 undergraduate nursing students was recruited from seven universities across China during July 2025. Data were collected using a demographic and AI usage questionnaire, the Learning Burnout of Undergraduates Scale, the Critical Thinking Scale and the Artificial Intelligence Literacy Scale. Descriptive statistics summarized the demographic characteristics, correlation analyses examined variable relationships, and PROCESS macro (Model 4) tested critical thinking's mediation role.

The average scores for learning burnout, AI literacy, and critical thinking were 55.86 (SD 10.90), 70.17 (SD 7.59) and 87.68 (SD 9.42). Critical thinking was negatively correlated with learning burnout (r = -0.54, P < 0.001) and positively correlated with AI literacy (r = 0.44, P < 0.001). AI literacy showed a weak negative correlation with learning burnout (r = -0.18, P < 0.01). Mediation analysis revealed that critical thinking fully mediated the relationship between AI literacy and learning burnout (total effect = -0.261, 95%CI [-0.373, -0.150], indirect effect = -0.364, 95% CI [-0.444, -0.293]; direct effect = 0.103, 95% CI [-0.003, 0.210]).

Nursing undergraduates reporting moderate learning burnout. Critical thinking fully mediated AI literacy's alleviating effect on burnout. Therefore, integrating AI literacy with critical thinking is essential for nursing students' well-being in AI-enhanced learning.