The relationship between critical thinking with emotional intelligence: A longitudinal research
Hulya KAYA, PhD
Istanbul University Florence Nightingale Nursing, Turkey
: J Nurs Patient Care
Abstract
Statement of the Problem: Emotional Intelligence and critical thinking are considered as important characteristic of nurses that can affect the quality of their work including clinical decision-making, evidence and knowledge use in practice. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: The purpose of this study was to examine nursing students' critical thinking disposition and emotional intelligence throughout undergraduate nursing programme. A longitudinal design. The focus population of this study consists of 182 students studying at a faculty of nursing. Asymmetrical cluster sampling method was used to determine sample group and all the students registered in the first year were included in scope of the study. Information Form, California Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CCTDS) and Emotional Intelligence Assessment Scale were used for data collection. CCTDS is a 6 point Likert scale and consists of 6 sub-scales and 51 items (min:60- max:360 points). The cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of the scale is .85. Emotional Intelligence Assessment Scale is a 6 point Likert scale and consists of 5 sub-scales and 30 item. The cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of the scale is .91. The data were analyzed using freguency, standart deviation, pearson correlation, Kruskal- Wallis test. Findings: In this study was found that there was a significant increase in the students' grade point of critical thinking scores in the final year compared to the year they started nursing education (p<0.05). In this study was found that there was a no significant increase in the students' grade point of emotional intelligence scores in the final year compared to the year they started nursing education (p>0.05). There was no relationship between critical thinking tendencies in the year students started their nursing education and the tendency of critical thinking in the last year. There was no correlation between the year students begin their nursing education, emotional intelligence, awareness of their emotions, managing their emotions, empathy, social skills, and final class critical thinking tendencies. The relationship between the dimension of motivation of emotional intelligence when students started to nursing education and the critical thinking trends in the final year, was found to be very weak at positive level (r=.181 p=.014). Conclusion: It is necessary to give more importance to the development of emotional intelligence in nursing students. It is recommended that nursing scholarship explore and debate the criticisms and design issues currently leveled at emotional intelligence and critical thinking researches outside nursing. Keywords: critical thinking, critical thinking dispotision, emotional intelligence, nursing students, nursing education.
Biography
She graduated PHD Program from Istanbul Unıversity Health Science Institue at 1998. She was working at Istanbul Unıversity Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Department of Nursing Education. Her professional interested areas are Critical Thinking and Teaching of Educators.
