Can Critical Thinking in Community Health Nursing Students be Compared Across Countries?

This work was initiated by two of the authors to explore reflections of students in community health nursing in the US and identify experiences that enhanced critical thinking. Student reflections were obtained through the use of clinical written reflections required of all students in community health. Using qualitative content analysis, information from the literature on critical thinking and the data obtained from student reflections, a rubric was developed to evaluate students’ levels of critical thinking and identify clinical experiences that enhanced higher levels of critical thinking. One of the concepts that evolved from the data was promoting health and wellness of populations. Further data analysis was completed using this concept, divided further into individual versus aggregate perspective and illness/disease focus versus wellness/health promotion perspective. Building on this study and another on methods to enhance critical thinking in Saudi nursing students; the authors analyzed reflections of community health nursing students in Saudi Arabia. Replication of the study in the Saudi context and application of the rubric to the data presented a few challenges. First was the basic cultural perception of critical thinking and potential ethical implications. Additionally, although the Saudi nursing students are competent in the English language, attempting to make reflections in English was difficult. Another difference that needed to be taken into consideration was the types of clinical experiences available for Saudi nursing students. The experiences were strong on ambulatory care settings and clinic settings. Experiences comparable to some of the settings used in the US were not available.