RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CRITICAL THINKING ABILITY, LOCUS-OF-CONTROL, AND CLINICAL PROBLEM-SOLVING PERFORMANCE OF REGISTERED NURSES (NURSES).
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 185
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Education.; Education, Educational Psychology.
Description: Although the essence of nursing practice is clinical problem solving performance, very little research addresses the issue of success in clinical problem solving. This study investigated the relationships among locus of control, critical thinking ability and clinical problem solving performance of practicing registered nurses. The primary concern was the investigation of interaction between two types of educational preparation and two aptitude variables, locus of control and critical thinking. The criterion measure was a computer simulation designed to measure nurses' clinical problem solving performance. The purpose was to see whether or not the aptitude variables predicted clinical problem solving performance in the same way for two groups of nurses.

The all volunteer sample consisted of 40 registered nurses employed in hospitals. The subjects were divided into two sample groups. One group of 20 registered nurses consisted of those with baccalaureate or higher degrees in nursing. The other group consisted of 20 registered nurses with associate degrees or diplomas in nursing.

Locus of control was measured by the score on Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and critical thinking ability was measured by the score on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. Marcinek's computer simulation "Tammy" was used to measure clinical problem-solving. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis.

Some conclusions drawn from this study were: (1) Critical thinking ability was a better predictor of clinical problem solving performance than locus of control. (2) A significant aptitude by treatment interaction was found; that is, the two types of educational preparation interacted with critical thinking ability in predicting clinical problem solving performance.

Further research is needed to explore these relationships as well as to examine relationships between other individual attributes and specific aspects of clinical problem solving performance.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-06, Section: B, page: 2819.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1990.

School code: 0227.