The Effect of Critical Thinking Disposition and Metacognition on the Career Identity among Nursing Students

Abstract

Objectives This study was attempted to investigate the level of critical thinking disposition, metacognition, and career identity and their relationship, and to understand the effect of critical thinking disposition and meta-cognition on career identity of nursing students. Methods In this study, data were collected from 151 nursing students at two college from April 1 to April 30, 2023, and Data were analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients and hierarchical regression analysis. Results The mean score of the critical thinking disposition was 3.59, metacognition was 3.74 and career identity was 2.62. There was a significant positive correlation between career identity and critical thinking disposition (r=.292, p=<.001) and metacognition (r=.399, p=<.001). Factors that have a positive impact on career identity are age over 26 (β=.16, p=.015), regular exercise (β=.13, p=.038), and satisfaction with major (β=.18, p=. 021), sat-isfaction with college life (β=.19, p=.012), and metacognition (β=.21, p=.024), and the explanatory power of these variables was 45.4%. Conclusions Through this study, we identified factors that affect the improvement of nursing students' career identity. In order to improve nursing students' career identity, we propose the development of a career exploration program that reflects these results, supplementation of the curriculum, and professors' active interest and coun-seling guidance.