Horizon of Medical Education Development

The Effect of Reflective Debriefing of Clinical Experiences on Critical Thinking Disposition of Nursing Students

10.22038/hmed.2025.84452.1449
Volume 17, Issue 2
Spring 2026
Pages 80-92
Horizon of Medical Education Development

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Maryam Bagheri 1
Fozieh Abadi 2
Pegah Hassanvand 3
Zahra Moradi 4
Ali Taghinezhad 5
Akram Mohammadi Pelarti 6
Shahnaz Karimi 2

1 Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Department of Adult Health Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

2 Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.

3 Community health research center, Isf.c., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

4 Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.

5 Faculty of Medicine, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.

6 Shafa Specialized Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract
Introduction: The development of critical thinking is one of the important goals of nursing education that prepare nursing students to quality care to patients. This study aimed to determine the effect of reflective debriefing of clinical experiences on the critical thinking disposition of nursing students.
Methods: The present study is a two-group quasi-experimental interventional study that was performed on 44 nursing students in two groups of intervention and control. Students were randomly considered as the control group and the intervention group. In the intervention group, reflective debriefing was performed using the Jones model. The Persian version of the California Critical Thinking Disposition Test was used to assess students' disposition to critical thinking.
Results: At baseline, there were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups regarding baseline characteristics and dimensions of critical thinking disposition (P>0.05). After the intervention, the mean total critical thinking disposition score was significantly higher in the intervention group (301.16±15.84) compared with the control group (265.79±30.83) (P<0.001). Significant differences in favor of the intervention group were also observed in the subscales of self-confidence, maturity, and inquisitiveness (P<0.001).
Conclusion:Considering the results, reflective dialogue based on Johns’ model improved the critical thinking disposition of nursing students. Therefore, the use of reflective processes in discussing clinical experiences through structured models is recommended in clinical education.

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank all faculty members and students who participated in this research.

Availability of data and materials:Due to the confidentiality of the data in this study, we are unable to make the data available.

Conflicts of interest:The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Consent for publication: The authors hereby express their consent to publish this article in the journal.Ethical approval and consent to participate.

Ethical approval and consent to participate:This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fasa University of Medical Sciences (Iran) with the code IR.FUMS.REC.1398.005. After group assignment, participants were informed about the research objectives, how to perform learning activities, and learning outcomes by instructors, and informed consent was obtained from both groups. It is worth noting that all intervention sessions were conducted after obtaining informed consent from the participants.The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Funding:This article is a research paper that was financially supported by Fasa University of Medical Sciences [Project Code: 97195].

Authors’ Contributions:The author contribution table has been previously submitted and can be viewed in the article.

Open Access Policy: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. To view a copy of this licence, visit.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

Keywords

debriefing
reflective debriefing
critical thinking
critical thinking disposition
nursing student
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