Caracterização do pensamento crítico dos estudantes de graduação em farmácia : um estudo piloto

Abstract

Introduction: the educational system has faced major changes recently, and with such changes the interest of teaching may influence the development of critical thinking in individuals. Critical thinking is a competence that can be developed, and it relies on the creation and maintenance of a democratic and participatory society. In light of this, critical thinking has been shown as a key component in the training of health professionals, who after all the changes, have come to realize the need to become more critical and reflexive professionals focused on the health system's needs. In this context, the objective of this study was to characterize the critical thinking of Pharmacy students at the Federal University of Sergipe, as well as to apply and validate the questionnaire used. Methodology: a cross-sectional study was performed in two campuses of the Federal University of Sergipe: University Campus Professor. Antônio Garcia Filho, located in Lagarto/SE, and University Campus Professor Aloísio de Campos, located in São Cristóvão/SE. The study sample was composed of Pharmacy students enrolled in the 7th semester and with regular attendance. The Critical Thinking Questionnaire for Students and Health Professionals was applied to the students in which the following critical thinking competences were evaluated: Interpretation, Analysis, Assessment, Inference and Explanation. The associations between the variables were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test. Results: the present study has proved the efficiency of the questionnaire used, allowing the researchers to test and correct possible irregularities that arose. The sample comprised 35 students, in which we observed that the students of the active methodology obtained a significant score in the Explanation competence with p-value of 0.0339 in relation to the students of the traditional methodology. In the general analysis of the critical thinking competences, students of both methodologies presented high scores of the competences, revealing a high critical capacity with p = 0.0439. Conclusion: the study proved possible to apply the questionnaire, and to differentiate the capacity of critical thinking among the students, providing grounds for further studies.