Facts

Contact person:
Frida Westerdahl
Responsible at MaU:
Frida Westerdahl
Project members at MaU:
Time frame:
01 September 2017 - 01 September 2026
Faculty/department:
Research subject:

Aim

This PhD-project aims at evidence-based teaching practice focusing facilitation of undergraduate nursing students´ critical thinking ability. Critical thinking is a cognitive process including analyzing facts and information to ease decisions making. Nursing is based on scientific knowledge where critical thinking and clinical judgement is the foundation for a nurse´s clinical decision-making concerning nursing interventions. Since it is of great value that future nurses´ possess the ability to execute critical thinking this project´s overall aim is to describe, investigate and evaluate which educational methods support the development of nursing students´ critical thinking. Overall, the goal is to use evidence-based teaching activities to facilitate future nurses´ critical thinking since it is a vital competence in their coming profession.

Method

This PhD-project follows the Medical Research Councils (MRC) guidelines for complex interventions. The rationale for this decision is that data in the upcoming studies will be collected in a complex setting including both theoretical courses on campus and during clinical placement. The intention of this PhD project is that it will end up in an intervention study which in itself can be described as complex since it includes different populations and organizations. In the current case, the intervention will be directed towards both students and teachers and have an effect in theoretical education as well as during clinical placements.