The effect of education through conceptual mapping on critical thinking of nursing students.

Objective: To determine the effect of conceptual mapping on nursing students' critical thinking.

Methods: The quasi-experimental case-control study was conducted from April 2015 to October 2016 at the University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, and comprised students of Fatemeh-Zahra School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz. The students were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Baseline data was collected using a two-part questionnaire, including demographic items and California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Both groups underwent 24 six-hour training sessions 3 times a week. The intervention and control groups were trained by conceptual map and integration methods, respectively. Post-intervention data was collected using the same questionnaire and was analysed using SPSS 13.

Results: Of the 81 subjects, 41(50.6%) were in the intervention group and 40(49.4%) in the control group. The mean age was 25.12}3.71 years in the intervention group and 25.5}4.10 years in the control group (p>0.05). At baseline, there was no significant difference between the mean critical thinking scores of the two groups (p=0.781). Postintervention values increased in both groups, but the mean critical score was significantly higher in the intervention group (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: Concept mapping was found to be an effective approach for improving students' critical thinking skills.