The effect of perceived stress in nursing students on their critical thinking disposition

ABSTRACT The Effect of Perceived Stress in Nursing Students on Their Critical Thinking Disposition The present paper is designed as a descriptive and cross sectional research for examining the effect of perceived stress in nursing students on their disposition toward critical thinking. The population (n=282) of the research includes final year students that studied in the January-May 2019 period at Faculty of Health Sciences of Cukurova University. All participants have been incorporated into the research, however, the research has been finalized with 255 students that already confirmed participation. A researcher-prepared information form, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Scale Inventory (CCTDI) have been used for data collection. Standard deviations, percentages, means, independent sample t test, ANOVA test, Tukey's range test, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskall Wallis h test have been used for data analysis. The average of the participants' scores in PSS is 63.27±22.26 for nursing students, which shows they suffer from moderate stress. There is a poorly negative and statistically significant relationship between the sub-dimensions of PSS and of CCTDI (p<0.05). There are correlations between personnel-related stress scores and systematicity and flexibility scores for nursing students. The results show stress affects students' critical thinking disposition negatively in some dimensions. Some programs may advisably be designated for minimizing the stress in students and improving their critical thinking disposition. Key Words: Nursing, Nursing Students, Critical Thinking Disposition, Stress