Pretorius, Louise2014-02-072014-02-072008http://hdl.handle.net/11070/452Summary provided by authorThe focus of this study was to develop an educational programme to facilitate the development of critical thinking in student nurses in NamibiaThe study was conducted in four phases, beginning with a needs assessment in phase 1 through which the researcher determined the needs of student nurses in terms of critical thinking. The deductive data analysis of phase 1 served as the conceptual framework for the development of an educational programme in phase 2Phase 2 consisted of the development of an educational framework to facilitate critical thinking in student nurses. Specific educational approaches and a philosophical framework were employed during the development of the programme. An expert opinion on the programme was obtained before the implementation could be conducted in phase 3Phases 3 and 4 of the study were conducted simultaneously. Phase 3 covered the implementation of the educational programme and phase 4 the evaluation of the programme. A quasi-experimental design was implemented which focused on active participation by the participants in the programme. The quasi-experimental design incorporated an experimental and a control group and both groups underwent a pretest before the programme commenced. The experimental group followed the programme and the control group continued with normal classes. After the completion of the programme, both groups underwent the posttest. The participants were also expected to complete a programme assessment after the posttest to indicate to the researcher how they perceived the programmeThe data of the pretest and posttest of both the experimental and the control group were statistically analyzed by means of a t-test analysis which enabled the researcher to determine whether the programme had made any difference to the critical thinking of the participants compared to the critical thinking of the control group who did not follow the programme. The results indicated that there is a significant difference between the scores of the participants of the experimental group and the scores of the control group. The participants of the experimental group fared better than the control groupRecommendations based on the findings of the study were made.xviii, 309 pengNursingStudy and teachingNurses in service trainingNursing philosophyThesisF004-199299999999999