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Measuring student perceptions of clinical competence.
Michele C Clark1, Steven V Owen, Michele A Tholcken
1School of Nursing, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555-1029, USA. mclark@utmb.edu
The Journal of Nursing Education
|December 29, 2004
Summary
Nursing faculty developed a new evaluation tool to measure students' confidence in clinical skills. This helps tailor teaching strategies by identifying areas where students lack self-efficacy despite valuing the skills.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Education
- Clinical Skills Assessment
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Enhancing clinical evaluations is crucial for nursing education.
- Existing methods may not fully capture student self-efficacy or skill importance.
- Need for a reliable tool to assess student confidence in newly acquired clinical skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a psychometrically sound tool for evaluating nursing students' self-efficacy in clinical skills.
- To assess the perceived importance of clinical skills among nursing students.
- To provide faculty with actionable data for improving curriculum and teaching strategies.
Main Methods:
- Development of the Self-Efficacy for Clinical Evaluation Scale (SECS), a 30-item dual-response instrument.
- Administration of the SECS to nursing students in a large, southwestern school.
- Analysis of psychometric properties to ensure reliability and validity.
Main Results:
- The SECS demonstrated strong psychometric properties.
- The scale effectively measures students' self-efficacy beliefs for newly learned clinical skills.
- Identified discrepancies between skill importance and student self-efficacy.
Conclusions:
- The SECS is a valuable tool for assessing nursing students' clinical self-efficacy.
- Insights from SECS scores enable faculty to identify specific areas of student concern.
- Data can inform targeted adjustments to nursing education and teaching strategies to better meet student needs.