فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

INTRODUCTION: Self‑directed learning is a vital principle promoted in health profession’s education,particularly with the increasing use of online learning methods. Likewise, reflection has beenrecognized as an indispensable and formidable concept for learning which plays a positive role infostering students’ self‑reflection, critical thinking, and development of professional values and skill.Hence, the present study was undertaken to identify the effect of reflective thinking on academicperformance among undergraduate dental students.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Reflective thinking was assessed among 2nd‑, 3rd‑, and 4th‑yearundergraduate dental students and interns of a dental college and hospital in Hyderabad. Reflectionquestionnaire assessed habitual action, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection on a 5‑pointLikert scale. The percentage of marks obtained in the last university examinations was considered foracademic performance. The completed questionnaires were analyzed using the Statistical Packagefor the Social Sciences software (SPSS version 20). P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.RESULTS: A total sample of 263 individuals comprising 188 (71.5%) females and 75 (28.5%) malesparticipated in the study. Our findings showed that the four scales of reflective thinking, such as habitualaction (P = 0.0001*), understanding (P = 0.02*), reflection (P = 0.02*), and critical reflection (P = 0.01*),showed statistically significant difference based on the year of study. However, no difference basedon gender was noted. Reflection (17.2 ± 2.41) and critical reflection (16.3 ± 2.77) mean scores werehighest among 4th years. Higher understanding (17.83 ± 1.78) and reflection (17.33 ± 2.01) meanscores were observed among students who attained more than 75% in their academic performance.CONCLUSION: Thus, the present study emphasizes the role of reflective thinking and its significancein academic learning process.