Self-Efficacy in Nursing Competencies during Students’ Clinical Practicum: The Development of a Self-Assessment Scale

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new scale to assess nursing students' self-efficacy in clinical competencies during their training.

Contribution

The novel contribution is the development and validation of the PSENC scale for self-assessment of nursing competencies.

Findings

The PSENC scale with 20 items identified five factors explaining 76.3% of the variance.

All factors showed Cronbach’s alpha coefficients above 0.70, indicating good reliability.

Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the scale's psychometric adequacy.

Abstract

The evaluation of the competencies corresponding to the different professional profiles of future nursing graduates is fundamental to their training. In this regard, students’ self-evaluation must be part of their training. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically test the Perceived Self-Efficacy in Nursing Competencies (PSENC) Scale. This study was conducted in two phases: selecting and adjusting items and assessing the instrument’s psychometric properties. A sample of 1416 students completed the scale online. Exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Inferential analysis was carried out. The exploratory factor analysis of the PSENC scale with 20 items resulted in five factors (76.3% of variance). All factors showed Cronbach’s alpha coefficients > 0.70. The confirmatory factor analysis measurement model showed satisfactory and adequate goodness-of-fit indices. The developed scale showed the psychometric adequacy and usefulness to the self-assessment of nursing students regarding their self-efficacy expectations in competencies during their clinical practicum. This study was not registered.

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