This article deals with
phase 4 of the study, namely the evaluation of the educational programme
developed in phase 2. The development of the educational programme was aimed at
the facilitation of the development of critical thinking in the student nurse.
The purpose of phase four (4) was to evaluate whether the researcher had
achieved the objective of the educational programme, namely to facilitate the
development of critical thinking skills of the final year student nurse. Specific
objectives were therefore set for phase 4. Further, hypotheses were formulated and tested
during this phase of the study. The aim of formulating a hypothesis was to
determine whether any development had taken place in the experimental group who
participated in the educational programme. All
fourth-year nursing students (47) who complied with the inclusion criteria
participated in the educational programme. Each participant consented in
writing to be part of the programme—including
the pretest and posttest. A total of 53 students participated as the control
group in the pretest and posttest. All the participants in the experimental and
control groups of the study were registered for the Comprehensive Diploma in Nursing at the University of Namibia.
Reasons were advanced in chapter 3 for the fact that the participants in the
study were final-year students at the Windhoek and Oshakati campuses of the
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. It was concluded that the
implementation and evaluation of a three-day educational programme on the
facilitation of the development of critical thinking within a
quasi-experimental design had desired results. Students from both the main
campus (Windhoek) and the Northern Campus (Oshakati) of the Department of
Nursing at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences of the University of
Namibia were included in the quasi-experiment. Internal validity of the design was
ensured by eliminating the threats to an experimental design.
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Pretorius, L. , Amukugo, H. J. , Dyk, A. V. and Small, L. F. (2016). Evaluation of an Educational Programme to Facilitate Critical Thinking of Student Nurses. Open Access Library Journal, 3, e3064. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103064.
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