Abstracts Psychology

The influence of academic achievement, prior clinical experience and a collaborative clinic-based learning experience on critical thinking ability in physical therapist assistant students / Cynthia M. Lacouture

by Cynthia M Lacouture

Although clinical competence comprises a combination of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills the changing healthcare environment now demands more efficient problem solving and decision-making skills. There exists a lack of research within physical therapy education regarding the impact of particular learning experiences, especially clinic-based, on problem-solving or critical thinking ability. This study was designed to: 1) examine the impact of a problem-based clinical learning experience on a measure of critical thinking ability, and 2) examine the influence of academic achievement indicators and previous clinical work experience on critical thinking ability following the experience. Seventeen physical therapist assistant (PTA) students from a Connecticut Community-Technical College participated in a one-week collaborative clinical learning experience at a local nursing home. Small cohort groups of students participated in the clinical experience at staggered intervals to evaluate the effects of testing. Critical thinking ability was assessed before (pretest), immediately after (interim posttest), and one to three months following the clinical experience (final posttest) through the use of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA). Predictor variables included academic achievement, as reflected by preadmission GPA and student grades in a foundational PTA course, and the type and extent of prior clinical work experience. Data analysis utilized the paired samples t-tests to analyze the main hypotheses, and Pearson's product-moment correlations to determine predictor relationships. No significant difference was detected between WGCTA pretest and interim posttest scores, or between WGCTA pretest and final posttest scores. In addition, no significant relationships were found between either preadmission GPA or the PTA course grade and WGCTA pretest scores. Finally, prior clinical work experience and the critical thinking ability pretest were not found to be statistically significant, nor did prior clinical thinking scores from pretest to interim posttest. Overall, critical thinking ability in PTA students was not significantly improved as a result of the clinical learning experience. Limitations of this study as well as the need for better measures of problem solving and critical thinking skills gained by students in clinical learning environments are discussed.