The Effects of Critical Thinking Disposition and Learning Self-efficacy on Patient-centered Communication Competency in Nursing Students

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the relationship between critical thinking disposition, learning self-efficacy, and patient-centered communication competency of nursing students, and to investigate the effect on communication competency. Method: A total of 158 nursing students enrolled in a college located in K-do were studied, and data collection was collected through the Google questionnaire from March 4 to April 31, 2024. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program, such as frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Results: The subject's critical thinking disposition score was 3.91±0.32 (out of 5 points), learning self-efficacy score was 6.04±0.69 (out of 7 points), and the patient-centered communication competency score was 5.0±0.57 (out of 6 points). Patient-centered communication competency was positively correlated with critical thinking disposition (r=.51, p<.001) and learning self-efficacy (r=.70, p<.001), and there was also a positive correlation between critical thinking disposition and learning self-efficacy (r=.54, p<.011). It was found that 53% (F=34.13, p<.001) had explanatory power for patient-centered communication competency. Conclusion: These results can be meaningful in that they provide the basis for the development of a program to improve the patient-centered communication competency of nursing students and basic data for future research.