The Relationship between Deliberative Belief, Critical Thinking and College Students' Engagement Attitudes in Volunteering

Y

7

Critical Thinking; College Students; Learner Engagement; Student Attitudes; Foreign Countries; Student Volunteers; Nursing Homes; Structural Equation Models; Models; Beliefs; Measures (Individuals); Hypothesis Testing; Correlation; Statistical Analysis

0146-3934

Aristotle once said that moral deliberation is supposed to find reasons, which may lead us to renounce spurious moral beliefs in pursuit of authentic goodness. The aim of this study was to construct a theoretical model, based on Aristotle's deliberation theory framework, representing college students' attitudes toward volunteering in nursing homes; the effects of deliberative belief and critical thinking on the theoretical model was analyzed. We examine the relationship between deliberative belief, critical thinking and volunteering attitude in 308 college students in Taiwan by utilizing survey questionnaires and the data gathered was analyzed by structural equation modeling. Results indicate that there is a positive relationship between deliberative belief and engagement attitude in volunteering nursing homes. However, there was also an insignificant relationship found between critical thinking and engagement attitude for the same group of volunteers in nursing homes. A positive relationship between deliberative belief and critical thinking was also established. In this study, it was found out that deliberation has impacts on college students' engagement attitude while volunteering in nursing homes. It also verifies Aristotle's theory that states "Virtuous actions are nourished through means of practical deliberation, deliberating with a good end, identifying the right means, and doing so in a timely way via practical wisdom" by statistic method. These findings have significant implications for strategies for promoting of students' attitude towards volunteering in nursing homes.

As Provided

20

2017

EJ1162432