The factors related to self-other agreement/disagreement in nursing competence assessment: Comparative and...

While assessment made by nurses of themselves (self-assessment) and assessment made of them by others (other-assessment) provide unique and valuable information as to individual nurses' competence, the subjective nature of both assessments often causes a disagreement between them. This is problematic when educational interventions to foster nurses' competence are designed. However, the question of what factors contribute to the self-other disagreement in competence assessment has rarely been investigated in nursing.

The aims of this study were to compare competence assessments made by nurses with that by others, and to investigate what types of demographic variables of nurses and others, and which personality traits of nurses were associated with the self-other agreement/disagreement in the competence assessment.

A cross-sectional survey design.

Three hospitals in Japan.

A total of 1167 registered nurses, who were practising in these three hospitals, were invited to participate in the study. The inclusion criteria of the participants were as follows: 1) currently working in an inpatient department, and 2) directly involved in patient care.

The survey package included two sets of questionnaires: one for self-assessment and the other for other-assessment, each of which was accompanied by an ID number for matching. Collected data were analysed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare the scores on competence assessed by nurses and others, and using multiple regression to examine the relationships between the demographics, personality traits, and the degree of self-other disagreement.

A total of 207 matched questionnaires were obtained. The results showed that the scores on the assessment made by others were statistically significantly higher than those made by nurses of themselves. Moreover, regression analysis suggested that the age of nurses (i.e., younger nurses) and that of others (i.e., older evaluators), and nurses' personality traits of conscientiousness and extraversion were statistically significantly related to the agreement in self-other competence assessment.

Nurse managers need to understand which factors contribute to self-other disagreement in competence assessment, and to identify a way to precipitate mutual agreement between them. By doing so, both nurses and managers can comprehend nurses' own strengths and weaknesses, and can determine educational needs and goals regarding nurses' competence development.