Vazquez-Morgan M, McWhorter W; Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, LA and University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV. mvazqu@lsuhsc.edu.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the ability of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Analysis (WGCTA) to track critical thinking changes over a 1-year period in Master’s Level Physical Therapy Students. SUBJECTS: Subjects consisted of a total of forty-four post baccalaureate students. Twenty-four admitted to the entry-level Master’s degree Physical Therapy program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport in June 2002, and twenty admitted to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas entry level Master’s degree program in August 2002. A sampling of previous degrees obtained included B.S. in biology, psychology, medical technician, rehabilitation therapy, exercise science, kinesiology and education. METHODS: Data was collected by retrospective examination of students’ WGCTA scores. IRB approval was obtained, and all students signed a consent form prior to administration of any testing or data collection. The WGCTA was administered three times during a one-year period. The tests were not timed, and all students at the respective programs took the test at the same time. The first administration of the test (Form A) was administered during the first week of the first semester in June 2002 at LSUHSC, and in August 2002 at University of Nevada at Las Vegas in order to establish a baseline. The second test (Form B) was give at the end of the first spring semester in May 2003 at both programs. The third test (Form A) was administered at the beginning of the second fall semester in August 2003. ANALYSIS: Statistical analysis used in this study included: Descriptive Statistics and Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance. RESULTS: Mean scores obtained on the WGCTA 1, WGCTA 2, WGCTA 3 were as follows: 57.73, 58.50, and 60.43 respectively. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance of Within-Subjects Contrasts (p = .05) displayed significant improvement (p £ .008) in WGCTA scores over the one-year period in the two regionally diverse Master’s Level Physical Therapy Programs. CONCLUSION: Data from this study has shown significant increases in critical thinking skills of Physical Therapy students participating in two regionally different Master’s level programs. These changes may be due to the fact that students during the one- year matriculation period participated in courses that stressed critical thinking as well as a period clinical internship where critical thinking skills were utilized daily. This study only included Physical Therapy students; therefore, conclusions from this investigation cannot be generalized to other educational programs. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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