Health education and competency scale: Development and testing

To develop a tool for measuring competency in conducting health education and to evaluate its psychometric properties in a population of entry-level nurses.

Until now, no generic instrument has been developed specifically for measuring competency in health education, which is an essential competency for nurses. Existing scales are either insufficient for psychometric evaluation or are designed specifically for senior nurses. To evaluate curricula and courses designed for entry-level nurses, educators require an instrument for measuring improvement in core competency from baseline to determine whether the minimum level of ability has been achieved.

Item development for the survey instrument used for data collection in this study was based on the results of a literature review.

The self-evaluated Health Education Competency Scale developed in this study was used to survey 457 nursing students at two nursing schools and 165 clinical nurses at a medical centre in south Taiwan in 2016. The participants were randomly divided into two equal groups. One group was analysed by exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation, and one group was analysed by confirmatory factor analysis.

Factor analysis yielded a four-factor (assessment, pedagogy, motivation and empowerment) solution (18 items) that accounted for 75.9% of the variance.

The total scale and subscales had good reliabilities and construct validity coefficients. For measuring competency in entry-level nurses, the Health Education Competency Scale had a good data fit and sound psychometric properties.

The proposed scale can be used to assess health education competency for college nursing students and practising nurses. Furthermore, it can provide educators with valuable insight into the minimum competencies required for entry-level nurses to deliver quality health care to clients and can guide them in the practice of client-based teaching.