Evaluating critical thinking skills in a scenario-based community health course

This study evaluated the influence of a scenario-based community health course on the ability of senior nursing students (N = 54) to address complex problems seen in the community health setting. In addition, we examined whether students' scores on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) questionnaire would differ depending on the size of the educational institution they attended before enrollment in a school of nursing and whether the types of electives (liberal arts or science) previously taken would influence the scores. Sign ficant improvements were seen on the Interpretation and Evaluation subscales and on the total critical thinking score from pretest to posttest for students who completed the course. Also students who completed nursing prerequisites in midsized, 4-year universities (10,000 to 30,000 students) had higher pretest mean scores on the majority of WGCTA subscales than did other students.