Abstract:

Objective: The study was conducted to examine the validity and reliability of the Nursing Students Competence Instrument, which was developed in order to evaluate the competences of nursing students, for the Turkish society. Methods: This methodological study was conducted with the participation of 224 third and fourth-year nursing students studying at a state university in Turkey. Identifying Information Form and Nursing Students Competence Instrument were used for data collection. In order to determine the validity of the scale, linguistic content validity analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed. In order to identify the reliability of the scale, test-retest and Cronbach’s alpha analysis were used. Results: In line with the validity and reliability analyses of the scale, it was determined that the model was compatible according to fit indices of confirmatory factor analysis (X2/sd= 2.42, RMSEA= 0.08, SRMR= 0.07). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale was determined to be 0.96, and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the subscales varied between 0.92 and 0.94. Conclusion: It was determined that the Turkish adaptation of the “Nursing Students Competence Instrument” was a valid and reliable scale for measuring the competence levels of nursing students. It is recommended to administer the scale to larger samples and to plan interorganizational comparative studies in order to identify nursing students’ competences.

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