Validation of Yoon's Critical Thinking Disposition Instrument

Background: The lack of reliable and valid evaluation tools targeting Korean nursing students' critical thinking(CT) abilities has been reported as one of the barriers to instructing and evaluating students in undergraduate programs. Yoon's Critical Thinking Disposition(YCTD) instrument was developed for Korean nursing students, but few studies have assessed its validity and reliability.

Objectives: This study aimed to validate the YCTD. Specifically, the YCTD was assessed to identify its cross-sectional and longitudinal measurement invariance.

Methods: This was a validation study in which a cross-sectional and longitudinal(pre- and post-nursing practicum) survey was used to validate the YCTD using 345 nursing students at three univeristies in Seoul, Korea. The participants' CT abilities were assessed using the YCTD before and after completing and established pediatric nursing practicum. The validity of the YCTD was estimated and then group invariance test using multi-group CFA was performed to confirm the measurement compatibility of multi-groups.

Results: A test of the seven-factor model showed that the YCTD demonstrated good construct validity. Multi-group CFA findings for the measurement invariance suggested that this model structure demonstrated strong invariance between groups(i.e., configural, factor loading, and intercept combined) but weak invariance within a group(i.e., configural and factor loading combined).

Conclusions: In general, traditional methods for assessing instrument validity have been less than thorough. In the study, multi-group CFA using cross-sectional and longitudinal measurement data allowed validation of the YCTD. The study conclued that the YCTD can be used to evaluate Korean nursing students' CT abilities.