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Development and psychometric evaluation of the community care competency scale in multi‐ethnic undergraduate nursing students
Author(s) -
Lau Siew Tiang,
Lopez Violeta,
Liaw Sok Ying,
Lau Ying
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
health and social care in the community
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.984
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1365-2524
pISSN - 0966-0410
DOI - 10.1111/hsc.12809
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , content validity , exploratory factor analysis , confirmatory factor analysis , scale (ratio) , construct validity , nursing , convergent validity , psychology , health care , item analysis , medicine , medical education , psychometrics , clinical psychology , internal consistency , structural equation modeling , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , economics , economic growth
Preparing healthcare students for community care has been emphasised due to the global ageing population. An instrument to measure students’ community care competency is lacking. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a new scale known as Community Care Competency Scale (CCCS) for measuring nursing students’ community care competency. CCCS consists of 21 items derived from literature review and community care standards. Content validity was established through a panel of seven experts in the areas of knowledge with a content validity index of 0.96. A cross‐sectional study was undertaken in a university in Singapore by using an anonymous self‐administered questionnaire to nursing students, and obtained a response rate of 87% ( n = 283). Psychometric properties were explored using convergent and known‐group validity testing, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach's alpha test. The results showed good convergent and known‐group validity. EFA and CFA showed a coherent construct of the 21 items of CCCS in a one‐factor model. The Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 indicated excellent internal consistency. The CCCS is a valid, reliable and easy‐to‐administer instrument that measures community care competency. This instrument will contribute to the empirical body of knowledge on evaluating the effectiveness of community care educational programmes for nursing students to prepare future healthcare professionals.