Cech DJ and Conroy CA; Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL, USA. dcechx@midwestern.edu.

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND: A common objective in physical therapist preparation programs is to help students develop critical thinking skills. Is there a change in critical thinking ability or style that occurs during the professional preparation program for the physical therapist? Several instruments exist to measure critical thinking ability, but none are specifically designed to evaluate critical thinking in physical therapists. A common instrument used in several health professional fields is the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA). The WGCTA is purported to evaluate change in overall critical thinking ability by evaluating skills across 5 subtests: inference, recognition of assumptions, deductions, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments. Although not typically used in analysis, it has been suggested that analysis of subtest scores may be useful in identifying the type of critical thinking training that is most needed by a group. The WGCTA has demonstrated that changes in critical thinking occur through the course of nursing and medicine curricula. Within physical therapy education, the ability of the WGCTA to detect change, resulting from curricular activities, has been varied. The relationship of the specific components of critical thinking to the development of clinical skills has not been addressed. The purpose of this study was to utilize the WGCTA to examining changes in critical thinking skills of physical therapy students across their curriculum. SUBJECTS: 241 students from the same 30-month, entry-level, masters of physical therapy education program were evaluated. METHODS: The student’s WGCTA scores were evaluated within one month of starting the program and again in their final academic quarter, 2 years later. Scores from these 2 tests were compared to identify patterns of change in the total Watson-Glaser appraisal score, as well as in each of the sub-test categories. ANALYSIS: The Sign test was used to evaluate differences between the number of students whose scores improved and those whose scores declined. RESULTS: The null hypotheses of H_o: test 1 = test 2 was rejected for the overall WGCTA score, and for the inference and deductive reasoning subtests, reflecting significant change in these categories. For overall scores Z = -6.295 (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed =.000), Inference Z = -3.933 (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed =.000), Deductive Reasoning Z = -4.751 (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed =.000). CONCLUSION: The results of this study support the premise that students in physical therapy programs are taught to question information, use inference and deductive reasoning skills to make appropriate patient management decisions. FUNDING SOURCE: none.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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