Background: This study was conducted to determine the effect of the Innovative Thinking Development Program (ITDP) on the innovative approaches, critical thinking and perceived competence of nursing students.The study has a non-randomized, control group pre-test-post-test experimental research design. The study population consisted of senior students in the Nursing Department of two similar faculties in the academic calendar 2019-2020 (n=164). In the study, the ITDB developed by the researcher was applied to the students in the experimental group. The research data were collected online using a 'Personal Information Form', 'Individual Innovativeness Scale', 'Marmara Critical Thinking Trends Scale', 'Self-Efficacy Scale' and 'Success Test 'developed by the researcher. Independent samples t test, Kruskal Wallis, Wilcoxon, ANOVA tests were used in the analysis of the data. Institutional permissions and ethics committee approval was obtained for the research.

Hypothesis:

H0: The innovative approaches, critical thinking tendencies and competence perceptions of nursing students included in ITDP do not change.

H1: Individual innovativeness, critical thinking disposition and self-efficacy scale scores of nursing students in the experimental group will change after ITDP.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of the ITDP on the innovative approaches, critical thinking and perceived competence of nursing students.The non randomized clinical trial was based on the guidelines proposed by the Consolidated standard of Reporting Trials- CONSORT 2010. The data of the research were collected in Giresun and Ordu University Health Science Faculty between April 2020- October 2020.

In this study, there is a non-randomized experimental group and two control groups (total 164 nursing students). Experimental and control groups were determined by lots. Data collected through online forms.

The developed educational program was implemented to students in the experimental group through an online platform. The trainings lasted 6 weeks and different applications were made with themes appropriate to the content. In addition, a whatsapp group was opened and posts about innovation thinking exercises were made.

The research data were collected a 'Personal Information Form', 'Individual Innovativeness Scale', 'Marmara Critical Thinking Trends Scale' and 'Self-Efficacy Scale' in pre test and post tests.The efficiency of the program was determined by applying an 'Success Test' to the experimental group.

Personal Information Form: The twenty-one question 'Personal Information Form' consists of sociodemographic questions and questions related to innovation.

Individual Innovation Scale (IIS): The scale was developed in 1977. The scale was adapted to Turkish in 2014. The scale adapted to nursing is 5-point Likert type. It consists of three sub-dimensions and a total of 18 questions. These sub dimensions are; resistance to change sub-dimension, opinion leadership sub-dimension and risk-taking sub-dimension. According to the score obtained from the scale; Scores of 57 and below are classified as 'traditionalist', those who score between 58-65 as 'skeptical', those who score between 66 and 74 as 'questioning', those who score between 75 and 82 as 'pioneer', and those who score 82 and above as 'innovative'. Scale Cronbach Alpha value is 0.82. The Cronbach Alpha value of the scale for this study is 0.94.

Marmara Critical Thinking Trends Scale (MCTTS): The scale was developed in 2018. The scale consists of 28 items and 6 sub-dimensions. The scale is in 5-point Likert type. Scale sub-dimensions; reasoning, reaching judgment, searching for evidence, searching for truth, open-mindedness and systematicity. The high score obtained from each sub-dimension of the scale indicates that the individual has the feature in the relevant sub-dimension. Scale Cronbach Alpha value is 0.91. The Cronbach Alpha value of the scale for this study is 0.93.

Self-Efficacy Scale (SES):The scale was developed in 1983.The scale was adapted to Turkish in 1999. It is a 5-point Likert type consisting of 23 items. The 4 sub-dimensions of the scale are starting behavior, maintaining behavior, completing behavior and struggling with obstacles. The high total score obtained from the scale indicates that the general efficacy perception is high, and the low general efficacy perception is low. Scale Cronbach Alpha value is 0.81. The Cronbach Alpha value of the scale for this study is 0.88.

Evaluation of Data SPSS 23.0 statistical package program was used for statistical analysis and evaluation of the data. Whether the data showed normal distribution was checked with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Independent samples t test and Mann Whitney U test were used to compare data between groups according to normality test. Paired samples t test and Wilcoxon test were used to compare the pre-test and post-test values within the group. The Chi-square test and two ratio tests were used to analyze categorical data. Significance level was taken as p <0.05.

Information:

No budget was received from any institution for the research. Ethics committee approval was obtained and verbal consent was obtained from the participants.

There is no conflict of interest.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Volunteering to participate in the study,
• Being open to communication,
• Being a fourth year nursing student,
• Not to be an innovation and entrepreneurship course in the curriculum,
• Students have online access opportunities.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not being willing to participate in the study,
• Not being open to communication,
• Not being a fourth year nursing student,
• To come by undergraduate transfer and to have taken innovation and entrepreneurship course at the faculty he came from,
• Students do not have online access facilities.

The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research. However, authors on the subject can be reached.