الفهرس 
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Abstract
Actually, a key challenge facing health policy makers in Egypt today there is the shortage of nurse’s particularly qualified nurses; the shortage has implications both on the quality of health care and the efficiency of the production of health services. And also, with an increasing emphasis on preparing nurses at the baccalaureate and higher degree level, one innovative approach to nursing education that is gaining momentum is the accelerated degree program for non-nursing graduates.
Accelerated or condensed programs are applied in Egypt in Alexandria University, Cairo University and El Mansoura University. Actually, it was designed for higher education graduates and graduates of nursing schools to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing science and contribute to meet the shortage in patient nurse’s ratio and creating job opportunities for graduates of other colleges.
And also, n any educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance, or how well a student meets standards set out by local government and the institution itself .Also academic performance is one of the most vital considerations among students in higher educational .
There are several factors affecting student academic performance. These are socio-economic status, motivation, intellectual ability, social factors, stress, anxiety, self-efficacy, admission qualifications, age and sleep. All could predict subsequent performance of nursing students. Furthermore critical thinking is one of the important factors that effect on students’ academic performance.
Critical thinking skills in nursing are important, as they are central for providing competent quality care. Critical thinking dispositions are requisite for thinking critically and for developing sound critical thinking skills. Critical thinking has two dimensions which are skill and disposition.
Baccalaureate nursing students, both generic and accelerated, experience a great deal of stress due to the intensity of the academic and clinical components of their nursing programs. Stress is a universal phenomenon affects other college students as well as nursing students. Stress can have both positive and negative effects on nursing students impacting on both thinking and learning.
This study aimed to:
- Assess critical thinking dispositions, stress and academic performance among accelerated program nursing students.
- Determine the relationship between critical thinking dispositions, stress and academic performance among accelerated program nursing students.
Setting:
The study was carried at the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University at accelerated program student’s halls.
Tools of study:
Two tools were used to collect data as follows:
Tool I: California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI)
The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) was developed by Facione and Facione, 1992. It was adopted, modified and translated in to Arabic language by EL Demerdash in 2009. It was used to assess students’ critical thinking dispositions and composed of 75 items divided into seven subscales; each subscale assesses one of the seven dispositions of critical thinking, namely; Inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, analyticity, systematicity, and self-confidence, truth-seeking and cognitive maturity.
Tool II: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS):
It was originally developed by Cohen1983 .And it was adapted, modified and translated in to Arabic language by the researcher to assess the student’s level of stress.
In addition, socio-demographic data was developed by the researcher to elicit data about the general socio-demographic characteristics of the studied subjects such as: age, sex, marital states, number of children, residence, occupation, work experience, years of experience, number of working hours and previous studies prior to entering accelerated program.
Method
1- Official permissions were obtained from the responsible authorities of the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University. These included the Written approval was obtained from the Dean and the vice Dean for students affairs of Faculty of Nursing Alexandria University.
2- Tool I: The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) to assess students’ critical thinking dispositions. It was translated and adopted to suit the Egyptian culture by EL Demerdash in 2009.
3- Tool II: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to assess the student’s level of stress. It was adapted, modified and translated in to Arabic language by the researcher and tested for its content validity by a jury of five experts in the field of the study and accordingly the necessary modifications were done.
4- Cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of students was obtained from the coordinator of accelerated program after the end of each semester.
5- Tools were tested for reliability using Crombach’s α coefficient to measure the internal consistency of the items. The coefficient value was 0.89 for tool I, for tool II0. 857.
Data collection for this study was carried out by the researcher during two consecutive academic semesters in the academic year 2016- 2017.
The researcher was started the actual data collection by meeting the students on group basis in the break of study day to explain the purpose of the study, and then to instruct the students regarding answering the study tools. After completion of data collection, the appropriate statistical analysis technique was used to determine level of stress, critical thinking dispositions and academic performance among accelerated program nursing students.
Results of the present study showed that: 1. About two thirds of accelerated nursing students had positive inclination in CTDS in the first semester. And near the two thirds of students had positive inclination in the second semesters. And more than one quarter of students had strong dispositions in the first semester, while in the second semester approximately one third of students had strong dispositions. 2. The accelerated nursing students have a highest mean score among the seven CTDS was for inquisitiveness while lower means score in the both two academic semester were found in maturity in the both two academic semester. 3. There was statistically significant differences were detected between marital status and CTDS in both academic semesters. 4. There was statistically significant differences was detected between previous work and years of experience and CTDS during first academic semester 5. There was no relation between CTDs and the age, sex in both academic semesters among accelerated nursing students.
6. There were no statistical significant differences between the level of critical thinking dispositions and academic performance among the accelerated nursing students during two consecutive academic semesters. 7. Near to two third of students have moderate stress levels in the first academic semester. And these percent increased to two third during second academic semesters with a statistical significant difference between two academic semesters.
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8. There was statistical significant between the stress and students residence in the second academic semester only, 9. There was statistically significant relation between stress level and critical thinking dispositions among the Accelerated Nursing student during second academic semester’s 10. There was statistically significant relations between level of stress and academic achievement among the accelerated nursing students during second academic semesters 11. There was no statistically significant between age and marital status and stress among accelerated nursing student in both academic semesters. It can be concluded from the present study that:
The accelerated nursing program is important innovation to deal with nursing shortage by provide the non-nursing graduate with required theoretical nursing knowledge and essential clinical skills. The current study revealed that there was no statistically significant relation between CTDs and academic performance while there was statistically significant relation between stress level and academic performance among accelerated nursing students. Based on the findings of this study it can be recommended that:
Conducting an introductory seminar for students before their study to orient them about the nature of the accelerated nursing program.
Conducting training workshop for nursing instructors about how to develop critical thinking skills and abilities among nursing students and how to deal with students stress.
Carrying out regular meeting between students and their academic supervisors to overcome any academic problems that raise stress level among students.
Accelerated versus traditional nursing