The Effect of Reflective Writing on Anesthesia Students’ Critical Thinking Disposition

Critical thinking development in healthcare professions is a necessity for making effective decisions in high-risk situations. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of reflective writing with Gibb’s cycle on students’ critical thinking disposition.

This was an interventional research with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The anesthesia students in the clinical education course were selected, and those entered into the control group received conventional education such as clinical conferences, performing actions and giving performance reports under the supervision of a clinical instructor. On the other hand, a structured reflective writing activity was implemented in the intervention group. Moreover, a critical thinking disposition questionnaire was applied to evaluate the difference in the level of critical thinking disposition and its subscales before and after the intervention.

In the present study, the total mean score of critical thinking disposition and the innovativeness subscale were significantly higher in the test group after the intervention, compared to the control group (P<0.05).

Findings suggested the positive effects of reflective writing as a part of students’ learning activities on the development of critical thinking disposition during a clinical education course. It is recommended that reflective writing be used as a part of students’ assignments when planning clinical education courses.