The effects of nursing care planning through concept mapping on nursing students’ critical thinking skills

Critical thinking (CT) is essential for nursing students to make sound clinical decisions and manage actual and potential problems in nursing. Concept mapping (CM), as an active learning strategy and teaching method, can enhance CT by helping students visually organize and connect clinical concepts during nursing care planning This study was conducted to assess the effects of nursing care planning through CM on nursing students’ CT skills. This study was a quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest–posttest design. All 84 nursing students who had enrolled on the critical care clinical course, had already been divided into eleven six- to nine-person small groups. Students in these eleven groups were randomly allocated to a control group (n = forty students) and an intervention group (n = 44 students). Clinical education in the control and the intervention groups was provided through routine linear nursing care planning method and CM, respectively. The California Critical Thinking Skills Test Form B and a CM scoring scale were used to assess participants’ CT and care plans, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS-V.25 and descriptive and inferential statistical tests (Chi-square test, t- test and ANCOVA), considering a significance level of P < 0.05. The mean age of participants was 21.84 ± 1.16 years. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups respecting participants’ demographic characteristics (P > 0.05). The post-test mean scores of care plans and the inductive reasoning and the analysis dimensions of CT skills in the intervention group were significantly greater than the control group (P < 0.05). Within-group comparisons also showed that the mean scores of CT skills and its inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, and analysis dimensions significantly increased in the intervention group (P < 0.05). Nursing care planning through CM is effective in significantly improving CT skills among nursing students. Nursing education authorities and policy makers as well as nursing instructors are recommended to use CM for improving nursing students’ CT skills.