Development of the Nursing Competency Scale for Use on Completion of Basic Nursing Education : A Study of its Reliability and Validity

<p>〔Purpose〕The present study aimed to create a nursing competency scale to evaluate nursing competencies required on completion of basic nursing education in Japan, and to verify its reliability and validity.</p><p>〔Methods〕Questionnaires were mailed to 1,566 students scheduled to graduate from 27 basic nursing education institutions （8 universities, 4 colleges, and 15 vocational schools） nationwide. The questionnaire comprised on subject attributes and 59 items on nursing competencies created through a pilot study following a literature review of nursing competencies. These items were assessed using a 5-point Likert-type scale.</p><p>　Exploratory factor analysis （EFA） and confirmatory factor analysis （CFA） were conducted to verify the goodness-of-fit model and confirm the structural consistency and content of the hypothetical framework of competencies according to the criteria of International Council of Nurses. </p><p>〔Results〕The response rate was 54.4%. Following EFA, a scale composed of 6 subscales （legal and professional care, ethical care, planned care, clinical care, cooperation, and professional development） and 29 items was extracted. Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.92 and each subscale was 0.59–0.84. CFA results revealed the GFI, adjusted GFI, CFI, and RMSEA to be 0.892, 0.873, 0.892, and 0.057, respectively. The scale contents well reflected the current state of healthcare and nursing education in Japan.</p><p>〔Discussion〕The nursing competency scale revealed high reliability and validity regarding goodness-of-fit in the hypothetical framework and reflected the current state of healthcare and nursing education, confirming that this scale accurately measured competencies required on completion of basic nursing education in Japan.</p>