Critical thinking disposition of medical students in Anhui Province, China: a cross-sectional investigation

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the critical thinking disposition of medical undergraduates. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 426 students from four majors, including preventive medicine, maternal and children’s health care medicine, health inspection and quarantine, and food quality and safety. The survey was completed in May 2019 using the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory-Chinese version (CTDI-CV). RESULTS: A total of 435 questionnaires were distributed and 426 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective rate of 97.93%. The CTDI-CV overall average score was 262.02 ± 34.74 points indicating an ambivalent disposition in medical undergraduate students. Only one of the subscales (maturity in judgment) had mean scores of 43.35 ± 8.23 indicating the positive disposition of students. Among them, males scored 257.42 ± 35.06 lower than females’ 264.82 ± 34.32, the difference was statistically significant. The target scores of preventive medicine, maternal and children’s health medicine, health inspection and quarantine, and food quality and safety were 265.17 ± 30.10, 260.26 ± 37.05, 271.73 ± 33.55, and 252.11 ± 39.87, respectively. The difference was statistically significant. Among the three dimensions of seeking truth, open mind, and cognitive maturity, the scores of males were 38.26 ± 7.48, 38.78 ± 6.46 and 41.03 ± 8.69, which were lower than females’ 39.97 ± 7.11, 40.48 ± 6.48 and 44.91 ± 7.60, respectively. The scores of food quality and safety students were 37.23 ± 7.08, 36.61 ± 7.41 and 40.57 ± 8.60, respectively, which were lower than the preventive medicine (39.98 ± 7.07, 40.60 ± 5.96 and 44.44 ± 6.97, respectively). CONCLUSION: Most medical students were found to have an ambivalent disposition which meant they were not disposed toward critical thinking. These findings suggested that more effective teaching methods should be taken to facilitate critical thinking disposition and problem-solving ability.