Background: Evidence-based nursing practice requires strong academic literacy (AL) and critical thinking (CT) skills, yet the link between these two competencies has not been adequately explored. This study aimed to assess nursing students' AL and CT levels and to examine the relationship between them. Method: A descriptive and correlational design was used with 120 nursing students. Data was collected using a Socio-demographic Information Form, the Academic Literacy Scale (ALS), and the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS), and analyzed through descriptive statistics and correlation analyses. Results: Students' mean ALS score was 86.54 ( SD = 9.54), and the mean CTDS score was 3.85 ( SD = 0.56). AL was strongly correlated with CT disposition ( r = .641, p < .01). Regression analysis indicated that CT disposition explained 41% of the variance in AL (R 2 = .410). Conclusion: Critical thinking significantly predicts academic literacy, underscoring the need for educational strategies that foster both skills.
Kutahyalioglu et al. (Fri,) studied this question.