Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotional Self Efficacy and Critical Thinking Disposition in Surgical Nurses

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between emotional self-efficacy and critical thinking in surgical nurses working in surgical departments. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study was conducted to examine the relationship between the emotional self-efficacy and critical thinking dispositions of surgical nurses living in a city in the Middle Black Sea region of Turkey. Data were collected via an online survey created with Google Forms from a total of 127 nurses recruited using snowball sampling between June 1 and September 30, 2020. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskall-Wallis test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. Results: The nurses’ mean critical thinking disposition score was 70.23 (SD=8.41) and their mean emotional self-efficacy score was 88.03 (16.20). There was a weak positive correlation between critical thinking disposition and emotional self-efficacy scores (r=0.213). Conclusion: Critical thinking and emotional self-efficacy are important for healthy clinical decision-making in surgical nurses. In this sense, nurses' critical thinking and emotional self-efficacy were found to be moderate. Emotional self-efficacy is needed to develop critical thinking skills. It is recommended to provide critical thinking and emotional self-efficacy training in order to positively change the quality of the decisions made by surgical nurses during the care process and the quality of care provided. © 2023 The Authors.