The effect of a multidimensional teaching strategy on the self-efficacy and critical thinking dispositions of nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND: Internships in pediatric nursing often reveal that nursing students lack critical thinking dispositions and self-confidence, which are important and necessary for nursing practice. Therefore, preparing nursing students to engage in critical thinking is an important goal for educators. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore whether a teaching model combining the 5E learning model and self-efficacy would be effective in enhancing participants' self-efficacy and critical thinking dispositions in a course on child-friendly care. DESIGN: The quasi-experimental method was single-blind, as the study was conducted with two parallel and unequal groups to address the research questions. SETTING: Two campuses of a university located in Northern and Southern Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-eight participants completed this study. METHODS: Participants completed the pre-test questionnaire in Week 1, after which participants in the experimental group learned via the teaching strategy that combined the 5E learning model and self-efficacy, while participants in the control group were taught the same course via conventional teaching methods. A post-test questionnaire was completed in Week 18. An independent sample t-test was used to determine any mean differences of outcome variables between groups over time. RESULTS: Significant improvements were found in self-efficacy, t (56) = 3.93, p 0.05. A t-test was also performed on the four subscales of critical thinking disposition for the two groups, showing that the only difference for overall reflective thinking was statistically significant, t (56) = 2.09, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The multidimensional teaching strategy introduced in this study is more effective than conventional teaching strategies in improving students' self-efficacy and the overall reflective thinking aspect of critical thinking disposition.